Money Management Executive Latest News

Charles Schwab reported Wednesday second-quarter net income of $126 million, or 9 cents a share, a 29% increase from $98 million, or 7 cents a share, in the second quarter of 2002. The company attributed the increase to improvements in the securities markets, cost controls and a 9% increase in average daily trades of 141,000 throughout the quarter.

Affluent investors are selecting and retaining advisers on the basis of performance, according to a study released Monday by Fidelity Investments.

Mutuals.com, advisor of the Vice Fund, has issued a release noting that one-, three- and five-year performance studies of so-called "sin stock" industries – which include alcohol, gaming, tobacco and defense industries – have beaten the S&P 500. But the fund itself, just shy of a year old, has trailed the S&P 500. The Vice Fund is up 10.7% since the beginning of the year through July 22 and 4% since its launch last Aug. 30, whereas the S&P 500 is up 13% year to date and 8% since Aug. 30.

J.P. Morgan Chase is doing away with exit fees on seven of its funds by removing class B shares for the funds, Reuters reports.

Despite record low interest rates, money market fund assets have held their own, according to a survey from Moody’s Investors Service. In addition, the credit quality of money fund portfolios has remained high.

Three weeks after confirming it was in acquisition negotiations, Lehman Brothers signed an agreement Monday to acquire 100% of wealth manager Neuberger Berman for a total price of $2.63 billion in cash and Lehman stock. Neuberger, which manages 29 open-end mutual funds in addition to $24 billion for wealthy investors, will become part of Lehman Brothers’ Client Services Wealth and Asset Management Business, and will retain the Neuberger moniker.

The National Association of Securities Dealers task force on mutual fund breakpoints issued its report Tuesday, calling upon every link in the mutual fund distribution chain to facilitate price breaks for eligible customers.

Investor confidence in the financial markets is slowly improving, as a report showed equity mutual fund flows for June hit their highest level in more than a year.

Investors added $600 million to stock-based mutual funds in the week ending last Wednesday, according to data from TrimTabs.com, Dow Jones reports. The week before, inflows stood at $2.9 billion.

Vontobel Asset Management and Salus Capital Management have launched the Salus Market Neutral Fund, an open-ended company based in the Cayman Islands. Vontobel’s role will be that of investment manager and Salus will serve as sub-investment manager.