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Long-term equity, bond and hybrid funds reaped $14.35 billion in the week ended Jan. 13, bringing the 44-week sales streak total to $441 billion, the Investment Company Institute said.

Rodger A. Lawson, 63, president of Fidelity Investments since 2007, will step down in March. The fund giant will likely select one or possibly three successors from its executive committee, Lawson announced in a briefing Wednesday.

Jefferies on Wednesday launched the TR/J CRB Wildcatters Exploration & Production ETF, an exchange-traded fund that tracks the Thomson Reuters/Jefferies CRB Wildcatters Energy E&P Equity Index and trades on NYSE Arca.

Fitch Ratings has revised its ratings on seven money market funds to its highest score, following the launch of its new rating criteria and rating scale.

Financial institutions will increase information technology spending 2.9% in 2010, after cutting budgets by 2.5% in 2009, according to research and consulting firm Celent.

With so many investors burned by the across-the-board dismal performance of 2008 and continued volatility into 2009, more are likely to conduct due diligence on hedge funds and exercise greater market discipline, said speakers at a recent conference hosted by Cayman Islands law firm Walkers.

The Supreme Court decided not to review a 401(k) fee lawsuit against Deere and Fidelity that was dismissed by a U.S. District Court in 2007, and again rebuffed a U.S. Court of Appeals a year ago.

The mutual fund industry is taking issue with a House bill that would permit the Federal Reserve to step in to regulate large funds that pose “a grave threat to the financial stability or economy of the U.S.”

American consumer confidence rose sharply earlier this month to the highest level it has been at since September 2008, according to the RBC Consumer Attitudes and Spending by Household Index. In fact, the index was boosted by the largest single month gain in job expectations since the index was created eight years ago.

Given the opportunity to approach their retirement savings again, 51% of affluent Americans who have retired said they would have preferred to have focused on life goals rather than a retirement number, Merrill Lynch found in a survey. However, the remaining 49% still believe in zeroing in on the numbers.

DST Systems and Blue Frog Solutions have partnered on an annuity order management compliance solution for independent intermediaries, through DST Vision.

Last year was a record year for breakaway brokers and this year could be even stronger, according to an executive at Fidelity Investments.

New York Life Insurance has committed $100,000 in donations to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund for Haiti and has pledged $150,000 in matching contributions to this and other charities serving Haiti made by both employees and agents, for a potential total donation of $400,000.

BrightScope is offering a Personal 401(k) Fee Report that will permit investors to sign up for free to see fees on 30,000 plans, how they compare to fees on comparable funds and how much money they would gain or give up over the remaining course of their working years.

The Managed Funds Association has formed an alliance with the Connecticut Hedge Fund Association whereby the MFA hopes to further unify and strengthen the hedge fund industry.

Despite the fact investors are more conservative after getting slammed by the recession, advisers and their clients are optimistic about the year ahead, with advisers looking to grow their business and improve their use of technology.

Man Group reported that its total assets under management in the fiscal third quarter ended Dec. 31 fell 4% from $44 billion to $42.4 billion, as a result of $1.5 billion in redemptions and investment losses of $1.2 billion.

If the emerging absolute-return exchange-traded funds succeed in delivering outsized returns at low cost, the one-two punch to the traditional mutual fund industry could gain steam, The Wall Street Journal reports.

The time has come for mutual funds and other institutional investors to vote their proxies in favor of individual investors and truly exert their fiduciary duty, John Bogle, founder and former chief executive officer of Vanguard, writes in a Wall Street Journal editorial titled, “Restoring Faith in Financial Markets.”

Hedge funds had their best year last year since 1999, according to the Hennessee Group. The Hennessee Hedge Fund Index gained 24.6% in 2009. Equity indices also gained in 2009, with the S&P 500 up 24.7%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 18.8%, and the Nasdaq Composite Index gaining 43.9%. In 1999, the Hennessee Hedge Fund Index was up 30.78%.