Money Management Executive Latest News

State Street Corp.'s first-quarter earnings rose 4%, helped by an increase in new customers, beating analysts' expectations of lower earnings due to high costs, volatile markets and climbing interest rates.

As the debate whether mutual funds should charge performance-based fees continues, Don Cassidy, a senior research analyst at Lipper, New York, says the main reason such fees have not caught on is that more funds underperform than overperform benchmark indexes.

The New York Stock Exchange and the Archipelago Exchange announced last Wednesday that they have entered a merger agreement that will lead to the combined entity, NYSE Group, Inc., which would become the world's biggest stock exchange, valued at $4.7 billion; NYSE is worth $3.3 billion.

Vanguard is expected to announce shortly that starting May 10, it will slash fees on 63 of its funds, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Bank of New York said Friday that it has signed a definitive agreement to buy Lynch, Jones & Ryan Inc., a commission-recapture services subsidiary, from Instinet Group Inc.

The BISYS Group of New York revealed a few more sketchy details last week about the continuing Securities and Exchange Commission investigation it is embroiled in over fees it paid for distribution, marketing and certain other expenses on behalf of its mutual fund clients.

Shifting Focus on Retirements and Focus Shifts

The New York Stock Exchange and the Archipelago Exchange announced Wednesday that they have entered a merger agreement that will lead to the combined entity, NYSE Group, Inc., which will be a for-profit, publicly-held company.

Reverberations from the mutual fund scandal continue, as the Securities and Exchange Commission last Thursday announced yet more market-timing and late-trading charges.

Most qualified plan investors have beaten the bear market, with 401(k) plan participants slightly better off than individual retirement account (IRA) holders, according to a study of five million households by the Vanguard Group's Center for Retirement Research.