Money Management Executive Latest News

Fidelity Investments has launched three new mutual funds to help investors continue to build diversified investment portfolios.

The vast majority of U.S. employees surveyed are happy with being automatically enrolled in their companies’ 401(k) plan, according to a new study of employer-sponsored retirement plans.

Beginning early next year, Fidelity Investments will enable investors to backtest their trading strategies online at no cost through a service called Wealth-Lab Pro.

Moody’s Investors Service issued a warning that recent strategic decisions by executives at Fidelity Investments, including Chairman Edward Johnson, have failed to put it in a strong position with regards to competitors and that many of Fidelity’s divisions have low profit margins. Moody’s also stressed that the future of the company is in question as 77-year-old Johnson hasn’t issued a leadership succession plan.

Compensation experts say the recent credit crunch could cause employee bonuses on Wall Street to drop 5% to 10% from last year.

Between Sarbanes-Oxley, the late-trading and market-timing scandals of 2003 and other reasons for a tightening in the mutual fund industry’s oversight, it’s no wonder fund directors are working more and quitting more.

Nasdaq took its first leap into the derivatives business on Wednesday with its $652 million all-cash acquisition of the Philadelphia Stock Exchange, the third-biggest options exchange and the oldest in the nation.

ProFunds brings two new exchange-traded funds to market today, the ProShares UltraShort FTSE/Xinhua 25 ETF and the ProShares UltraShort MSCI Japan ETF. Both short stocks in those markets, seeking twice the inverse of the daily movement of the underlying index.

The 14th fund manager to leave Janus since the beginning of 2006 is . . . Minyoung Sohn, manager of the $6.9 billion Janus Growth and Income Fund, the Rocky Mountain News reports. Sohn, who told Janus “it was the right time to move along,” said Janus spokeswoman Shelley Peterson, will be replaced by Marc Pinto. No news yet of where Sohn is moving.

The Dreyfus Premier Greater China Fund, which has risen 149% in value over the past 12 months, has beaten all other funds on the market, MSNBC reports.