Money Management Executive Latest News

Now that Baby Boomers are starting to retire, it's going to be easier to predict which mutual funds might be the hottest, according to Reuters.

With account minimums of as little as $25,000 and their availability now even through stodgy banks, hedge funds and hedge funds-of-funds are increasingly finding their way into ordinary investors' portfolios, MarketWatch reports.

Although the increasing value of Janus Capital Group's stock is good news for its market capitalization, now at $4.8 billion, and a sign that investors believe the company is improving its performance, the stock's 50% run-up since October has had at least one negative drawback, The Wall Street Journal reports.

As investment management firms increasingly look to separate the money management and distribution sides of their business, divestiture-driven mergers and acquisitions among such companies could hit a record high this year, Putnam Lovell NBF predicts, in a new report called "Shake, Rattle and Roll: Tectonic Realignment."

Citing the strength of subscriptions by financial advisers to its Morningstar Advisor Workstation and sales of its stock research to investment banks, Morningstar has reported fourth-quarter profits of $10.1 million, compared with a loss of $1.1 million in the fourth quarter of 2004. Morningstar's investment consulting services for funds-of-funds also contributed to this growth.

Domestic equity funds are increasingly turning to overseas markets for their holdings, due to their strong returns, with more than 100 funds now holding 20% or more of their portfolios in overseas stocks, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Because of a rebound in its two major stock markets and its strong economy, China is capturing the interest of international fund managers for the first time in more than two years, The Wall Street Journal reports.

The equities markets showed signs life in January and individual investors responded enthusiastically.

Hoping to cash in on an aging Japanese population that's funneling its retirement savings into bank deposits in the face of a pension pinch, Fidelity Investments will launch three funds that focus on paying dividends, Bloomberg recently reported.

Assets and the number of plans in Fidelity Investments' Advisor 401(k) programs, designed for small- and mid-sized employers, increased in 2005. Assets increased 16% over the year before, to $13.5 billion, while the number of new plans Fidelity signed up rose 44%, to 380, bringing the total number of plans using Fidelity's Advisor 401(k) services to 2,176.