Fund Execs Urge Investors to Focus On Long-Term

Published September 17, 2001, 1:00 a.m. EDT

Updated September 17, 2001, 1:00 a.m. EDT

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Several funds prepared for Mondays 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.

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On Friday, William Lyons, president of American Century Investments, urged investors to follow the lessons of history and remain invested in the markets. "Specific to investor portfolios, market dips that occurred on the heels of such crises as Pearl Harbor, the John F. Kennedy assassination and the Oklahoma City bombing were erased within months of the tragedies," he wrote in his message.

At least anecdotally, it appeared that investors followed that advice. Call levels to the Vanguard Group were up Monday morning, but most investors appeared to be "resolute and resilient," said John Brennan, Vanguards CEO, in a message to shareholders posted on the companys Web site. Brennan spent part of his Monday morning monitoring incoming phone calls. While volumes were higher, the levels were not much greater than typical days, he said.

Fidelitys Web site featured a message from Bob Reynolds, the firms COO. Fidelity "remains confident about the strength, stability and growth prospects of Americas economy and our great public companies," he wrote in his message. "We hope you will consider these strengths as trading resumes in the various securities markets, and make investing decisions that serve your own long-term goals."