Portfolio

Fund companies are increasing their efforts to provide advice to 401(k) plan participants in order to develop a relationship that will steer a greater percentage of the assets rolled over from 401(k) plans to them, according to industry analysts.

Exchange-traded funds are variously seen as new products that will radically change the mutual fund industry or the latest novelty that will fleetingly appeal to fickle investors and then be forgotten.

With the volatility of the equity market showing no sign of lessening, some fund companies are taking steps to protect investors from that volatility.

MutualFunds.com of Boston will launch its website this fall as a mutual fund site targeting three audiences - investors, mutual fund companies and financial advisors.

Waddell & Reed of Overland Park, Kan., will add two new share classes to its Waddell & Reed fund family in order to target supermarkets, 401(k) plans and wrap programs, the company announced last week.

NEW YORK - Discretionary, separately- managed accounts have been commanding growing attention as alternatives to traditional mutual fund investing for wealthy individuals.

Although exchange-traded funds will not supplant mutual funds in the near future, they will be the driving force behind industry changes in the next decade, creating opportunities for some firms and threatening others, according to a recent study.

Fidelity fund customers will be able to gain access to their accounts and buy and trade fund shares through wireless devices by late summer, making Fidelity the first fund company to both provide fund customers information and enable them to gain access to their accounts over wireless devices, according to Fidelity Investments of Boston.

Although advertisements and news stories about the latest product developments in exchange-traded funds are rife, there is no data available that allows investors to track the funds, according to mutual fund analysts and executives. That is because fund data and rating services are struggling to determine an accurate method of tracking the funds, they said.

Exchange-traded funds probably will not eliminate traditional mutual funds in the near future, but they may represent this decade's most significant product development in the fund industry, according to a survey released last week by Financial Research Corp., a financial-services tracking and consulting firm in Boston.