Money Management Executive Latest News

Money market mutual funds are breathing a sigh of relief as they dodged a bullet in the form of a potential 50 basis point reduction of interest rates by the Federal Reserve at its meeting in late June.

A trend that's changing the face of the brokerage industry - fees as opposed to commissions - may help wirehouses, institutional banks and broker/dealers attract more money into separately managed accounts (SMAs).

Performance and risk statistics reported by hedge funds are unreliable. In fact, the only true way to tell the profit or loss on a hedge fund is to cash out the investment.

CHICAGO - Financial advisers flocked to the windy city last month for the 2003 Morningstar Investment Conference, where the mutual fund industry's top stockpickers discussed their investment strategies and what it takes to beat the market. Given the wave of corporate scandals that has swept the financial markets the past few years, several managers are reminding investors that cash is still king.

The fund market "down under" is anything but, as the Australia/ New Zealand fund market has been garnering positive attention as of late due to the region's prospects.

Finances and health insurance are on the minds of Baby Boomers, as 36% of them say they think about their retirement savings nearly every day, according to a recent survey by Pulte Homes.

Exchange-traded funds had a spring in their step in June, gathering assets worldwide and trading more frequently in the month, according to a recent Morgan Stanley report.

Wealth managers providing separately managed accounts and private client services are going to vie most actively for the assets of the very wealthy in the coming years, a PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) survey shows. Seventy-one percent of wealth managers expect to increase their number of ultra-high-net-worth clients with $50 million or more to invest, but only 14% plan to increase the number of affluent clients with $100,000 to invest.

Waddell & Reed Financial has launched an expanded Ivy Funds family following the merger of several Ivy Funds into similar W&R funds, a move approved by shareholders.

PFPC, a member of the PNC Financial Services Group, has named Brian R. Burns president and chief executive officer of PFPC Distributors, a limited-purpose broker/dealer and a subsidiary of PFPC. As president and CEO, Burns will implement a national wholesaling services business. He will also continue in his role as senior vice president of PFPC's integrated banking transaction services.