Money Management Executive Latest News

He may not have "invented the Internet" but experts agree that a new mutual fund that former Vice President Al Gore is planning to launch is part of a new movement in socially responsible investing.

As the post-election market landscape continues to take the shape of a bull, the smart investor may want to invest not only in mutual funds, but mutual fund firms themselves, USA Today reports.

Variable annuity exchanges are very common yet rarely good for investors, according to an article entitled "No Surrender" in the November 29, 2004, issue of Forbes. The article, written by Carrie Coolidge, first advises investors to steer clear of variable annuities and, in the second place, not to make an exchange. "If you already have one, don't switch it for yet another model without researching the costs," the author cautions.

Franklin Resources, manager of the Franklin and Templeton mutual funds, will likely settle fraud charges this week for awarding kickbacks to brokers who sold its proprietary funds, according to California Attorney General Bill Lockyer, Reuters reports.

At a time where mutual fund companies are increasingly separating the duties of chairman and chief executive officer, Alliance Capital Management announced Thursday that it was doing just the opposite, tagging CEO Lewis Sanders with the additional title of chairman.

Inflows into junk bond mutual funds tell analysts a lot about how much of a risk investors are willing to take. So when the research firm AMG Data announced Friday that last week’s inflows into the funds were higher than they have been all year, it became apparent that the risk threshold is quite high.

Average performances of small-cap stocks emerged as one of the few lucrative market sectors Wednesday when the Russell 200 index reached a record peak of 609.61, USA Today reports.

The beckoning call of Hong Kong's lucrative real estate markets prompted government officials to cobble together Asia's single largest real estate investment trust, The Wall Street Journal reports.

The Investment Company Institute has expressed concern about an aspect of the new New York Stock Exchange hybrid market plan, according to Dow Jones. The "broker agency interest file" allows brokers to post orders outside of the best price available that aren’t displayed with other orders but that generally receive the same priority.

The Security and Exchange Commission has widened its net regarding mutual fund stock lending practices, according to a report from Reuters. State Street Corp. and Dreyfus, a mutual fund unit of Mellon Financial Corp., are the newest targets of the SEC investigation.