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TV coverage of Tuesday's terrorist attacks may have kept investors from paying attention to mutual fund transactions. That was the conclusion of a spokesman at a large mutual fund family, backed up by published reports that call volume to fund companies was unusually low.

UBS PaineWebber spokesman, Paul Marrone, spokesman said the firm's advisors were in their offices in the days after the attack, working with their clients. "We have not seen any extraordinary inbound phone calls," he said.

Last week's terrorist attack brought down much more than the World Trade Center. Crashing down with one of the world's architectural marvels were the U.S. financial markets, which ground to a halt and, as of press time, had not reopened.

Although geographically distant from last week's tragedy, many West Coast fund companies took decisive action in the following days.

Trustees of TIAA-CREF's socially responsible investment products beware. You may soon find dozens of activists outside your home, protesting the company's practices and waving picket signs.

Besides addressing investors concerns, some fund companies initiated charitable efforts in the days following the tragedy. Washington Mutual has donated $250,000 to the American Red Cross. "Washington Mutual has always been a firm that's been very high profile in community support," said Sandy Cavanaugh, VP at the Seattle, Washington-based firm. "Although we don't have a lot of business in New York or Washington, we just purchased the Dime Savings and Loan, and we are always interested in helping communities that are involved in crisis."

In the wake of last Tuesday’s World Trade Center tragedy, American Skandia today named Massachusetts Financial Services interim manager of the Skandia products that were managed by Fred Alger Management. MFS will act as interim co-portfolio manager for the Alger All-Cap Growth portfolios offered through American Skandia’s Trust and Advisor Fund products.

In response to last week’s disaster, the Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday issued an industry-wide order exempting funds from certain requirements under the Investment Company Act of 1940. The order temporarily waives certain requirements concerning directors meetings and lending arrangements.

Several funds prepared for Monday’s steep market declines by issuing statements on their Web sites intended to encourage investors to remain calm and focus on the long-term. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 685 points Monday to close at 8,821 while the Nasdaq dropped 116 points to 1,150.

The world at large wondered how the stock market would perform on its first day of trading after being closed nearly a week. Fearing the worst, the Federal Reserve cut interest rates another half point today to stimulate investor confidence. Yet as the Dow Jones Industrials Average fell to 8921.20 and Nasdaq to 1579.70 by day's end, most financial planners found their clients relying one of investing's cardinal rules -- stay calm and don’t make any impulsive decisions.