Money Management Executive Latest News

Morningstar is giving its fund categories a facelift. In the next six months, the Chicago investment research firm will roll out 11 new categories, change the name and/or definition of eight more and delete one altogether, Morningstar has just announced in a letter to its customers.

Putnam Investments has unveiled a set of retirement products designed to help investors with asset allocation.

"Stability" and "protection" have become the new investment buzzwords, replacing "wireless," "Web" and "high-tech" - words that wrought so much magic a mere three years ago.

In bull market and in bear, exchange traded funds (ETFs) are giving mutual funds a run for their money.

Alternative investments have been a hot topic among investment company executives. But so far, investors have yet to give them a warm reception.

NEW YORK - The separately managed account (SMA) industry has been gaining momentum recently, but is about to accelerate to a major growth spurt in the next few years according a number of speakers at The Money Management Institute's 2003 annual meeting here earlier in the month.

It's the newest "it product." With assets projected to grow annually at 23%, separately managed accounts (SMAs) could quite possibly become the hottest investment product of the decade.

The mutual fund world may reside far from that of annuities, but fixed annuities have gained momentum as investors have sought out safe havens for their money. While single-digit fixed annuity yields seemed unappealing during the bull market, now, returns not preceded by a negative sign turn heads.(see chart, page 8).

The debate over the housing bubble aside, real estate funds are one of the few bright spots in the mutual fund industry.

T. Rowe Price Chairman George A. Roche said at his company’s annual meeting yesterday that first quarter earnings would fall significantly below the 41 cents per share earned in the first quarter of 2002. The results, which are scheduled to be released April 25, could be 30% lower, Roche said.