Portfolio

Imagine this: A dissatisfied technology worker at a mutual fund complex computer network hacks into the company website, disabling it for hours or even an entire day. Investors who rely on the Internet to make transactions and get information about their accounts will be frustrated and furious, overloading the customer service phone lines. Money and loyalty will be lost; investors will take their invested assets elsewhere.

American Century Investments is adding a new fund, Twentieth Century Global Growth, to its group of international funds as of Dec.1. The fund will seek long-term capital by investing in both foreign and domestic companies, primarily in developed markets. Its benchmark will be the Morgan Stanley Capital International World Free Index.

The Internet brokerage E*Trade has launched its own mutual fund family and in the process has created what may be the first mutual fund to offer so-called electronic shares.

Federated Investors last week became the latest fund adviser to introduce a stable value fund, a move which comes as investors increasingly are looking for the stability of money market fund- style investments.

Fifth Third/The Ohio Company has created a Strategic Communications & Technology Unit Investment Trust. The trust will buy a fixed portfolio of stocks in 44 software, Internet, telecommunications, hardware, networking, equipment and semi-conductor companies like America Online, AT&T, Dell Computers and Motorola. Investors can buy units of the trust for an initial offering price of $10 per unit, at a minimum initial investment of $1,000.

Global Investment Systems announced the newest version of its mutual fund accounting systems software, MFACT for Windows, MFACT 4.0.

UMB Financial Corporation announced that it has changed the name of its proprietary family of mutual funds, the Scout Funds, to the UMB Scout Funds. The name change will have no effect on investment strategy.

Merrill Corporation, a provider of paper and electronic document and information management services, is introducing what it is calling, "Electronic Distribution Services." The new services will allow clients to convert marketing and compliance documents to a variety of electronic formats, including HTML and PDF files that can be posted online, or stored in a diskette or CD-ROM.

While John Glenn is making news for NASA as the oldest man to travel into space, a new fund adviser in Los Angeles is hoping that a NASA scientist will make news for its new small-cap quant fund.

PNC Bank has made several improvements, including the addition of new fund families, to Vested Interest, its bundled 401(k) product.