Money Management Executive Latest News

The first two retail money market funds to exceed yields of 5% are the Transamerica Premier Cash Reserve Fund, which delivered a seven-day yield of 5.02% for the week ended July 10, and the TIAA-CREF Money Market Fund, which yielded 5.01% in that period, according to data from iMoneyNet.

ProShares Thursday launched four new exchange-traded funds to trade on the New York Stock Exchange designed to track different indexes and deliver twice the inverse of their retruns, before fees and expenses. The UltraShort Funds aim to provide greater short exposure for investors.

Mega-money-manager Mario Gabelli will pay $130 million to end a five-year-old civil fraud case, according to a settlement approved Thursday by a Federal judge.

In spite of the terrorist blasts on commuter railroads on Tuesday, India's economy and stock market should continue to deliver strong growth, Andrew Foster, lead portfolio manager on the Matthews India Fund, told MarketWatch.

Legg Mason filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission Wednesday to streamline its mutual fund complex by merging U.S. funds and liquidating others, resulting in 119 funds as opposed to the current 166. Most of the former Smith Barney and Salomon Brothers funds will be re-branded Legg Mason Partners Funds.

Janus Capital is planning to merge the Janus Olympus Fund into the Janus Orion Fund, Rocky Mountain News reports. Both funds are aggressive growth, go-anywhere funds.

Prudential Retirement Insurance & Annuity is planning to offer four target-date annuities for 401(k)s that will protect investors' principal and lock in investment gains, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Claymore Advisors has filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission to offer five exchange-traded funds, including one that will track 250 small- and micro-cap stocks and American depositary receipts with market capitalizations of less than $1 billion that get little or no coverage from Wall Street, using an index developed by quantitative equity research company Sabrient Systems, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Although the stock market took a serious downturn in the second quarter, publicly traded money management firms are still expected to post healthy second-quarter returns, principally because average assets under management did not fall too much in the period, The Wall Street Journal reports. But should the stock market continue to decline, revenues will fall.

The Depository Trust & Clearing Corp. is planning to enhance its Mutual Fund Profile Service, expanding data to be more consistent with fund companies' prospectus rules and making it easier for funds to provide customer information to their distribution partners.