Money Management Executive Latest News

Parents certainly are aware of the need to save for children's college education, but not all are stashing away money in appropriate investment vehicles, such as 529s that are tax-free.

U.S. Global Investors reported that its earnings for fiscal year 2007 ended June 30 were $13.76 million, or 90 cents a diluted share, up 32% from $10.44 million, or 69 cents a diluted share, in the previous fiscal year. Revenue increased 30% to $58.6 million, up from $44.85 million.

The American Stock Exchange launched trading in the SPDR Lehman Municipal Bond ETF (Amex:TFI) by State Street Global Advisors this week.“Amex is pleased to work with State Street as they continue to growth their family of fixed income ETFs,” said Scott Ebner, senior vice president, Amex ETF Marketplace. “TFI gives investors access to the U.S. municipal bond market and provides income that is exempt from federal income taxes.”

Besides offering data analysis on mutual funds, stocks and hedge funds, Morningstar is now going to be offering such information on options, Dow Jones reports.

Man Investments, the world’s largest hedge fund, with $67 billion in assets under management, believes the subprime crisis will worsen as large investors look to sell off large positions, The Australian reports. But solvent lenders will be make for good investments, said John Morrison, CEO of a division of the Australian arm of Man Investments.“After a month like August, or October 1987, you see the problems very close, and then you see the opportunities,” Morrison said.

Enhanced index funds, which are designed to exceed their benchmarks, typically by one to two percentage points, not only are not even keeping up with them, but they’re actually falling short of them, in some cases by far more than two percentage poitns, The Wall Street Journal reports.

A number of Countrywide Financial employees have sued the firm, charging that as the company has suffered from subprime loans, their 401(k) account balances have fallen sharply, Dow Jones reports.

Philip Goldstein, the outspoken hedge fund manager who runs Bulldog Investors, is calling Massachusetts Secretary of State William Galvin’s office a “kangaroo court” that is restricting his First Amendment rights, the Boston Globe reports.

As many experts predicted, investors are beginning to pull their money out of narrow niche exchange-traded funds, many of which are performing quite poorly of late, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Assets of the 246 biggest hedge funds, those with $1 billion or more of assets, soared 23% in the first half of this year to $1.457 trillion—double the rate of their asset increases in the previous six months, Absolute Return reports.