Special Program Root Tag

Hedge funds dipped 0.5% in October but bested the S&P 500’s 2% drop and Nasdaq’s 3.6%, Hennessee Group said.

Hedge fund managers tell The Wall Street Journal that the $26 billion that investors have placed in emerging markets funds, $15 billion of that through exchange-traded funds, is creating artificial valuations that could readily lead to a bubble.

T. Rowe Price announced Monday it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire a 26% stake in UTI Asset Management and UTI Trustee for $138 million. UTI Asset Management, which has $17.2 billion in assets under management, is the fourth-largest asset manager in India and the country’s oldest mutual fund institution.

Investor behavior has been very unusual since the market’s 70% rally began in early March, and if hundreds of billions of dollars of retail investors’ money remains on the sidelines, market volatility or even a bear market could continue, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Seventy percent of equity funds have increased their expense ratios by an average of 8.2 basis points since the beginning of the crisis, Lipper found. Approximately 25% of the expense increases were larger than 10 basis points.

John Hancock has launched a microsite and accompanying advertisements addressing the many looming, difficult questions near-retirees have, such as how to leave a legacy, how best to work with a financial adviser, how to repair a beaten-down portfolio and how to juggle multiple financial goals including saving for retirement, taking care of aging parents and saving for a child’s education.

Jeremy J. Siegel, the renowned professor from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, dismisses the widespread notion that the economy will continue to grow at an anemic rate.

FUSE Research and Momentum Partners have formed a strategic partnership to help financial services companies grow through more efficient strategies and distribution, by relying on FUSE’s strategic consulting and Momentum’s research and analysis.

As hedge funds pick themselves up from average losses of 28% last year and billions in redemptions, they will increasingly offer separately managed accounts to provide investors with liquid strategies to attract new assets, according to a report from TABB Group.

The average financial adviser works closely with 14 fund companies and receives more than 100 e-mails, letters, wholesaler visits and internal sales desk calls a month from them, according to Cogent Research’s “Adviser Touchpoints 2009” report.

Fidelity Investments is offering new resources to help investors and advisers decide if converting a regular IRA to a Roth IRA makes financial sense, adding a conversion evaluator calculator to its website that takes 20 minutes or less to use: fidelity.com/rothevaluator. Fidelity also has tax professionals available by phone and at its 132 investor branches across the nation, and has just published a “Viewpoint” article on the importance of tax diversification on its website: fidelity.com/taxdiversification.

Long-term mutual funds took in $8.93 billion in the week ended Oct. 28, bringing the sales streak to 33 weeks straight and $346 billion, according to the Investment Company Institute.

For money market fund advisors and investors, help on yields is seen on the way.

The House Financial Services Committee passed a bill Wednesday that would allow states to oversee hedge funds and other investment advisors with $100 million or less in assets under management, leaving larger investment managers up to the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Plan sponsors are becoming more aggressive about helping their workers save for retirement, and even investment advice is now offered, Hewitt Associates found in a survey of 300 mid- and large-sized companies.

Value Line, its CEO and former CCO settled civil charges with the Securities and Exchange Commission for $45 million for having improperly funneled mutual fund trades to its affiliated broker/dealer and pocketing $24 million in commissions.

Of the wirehouse advisers who switched firms, 34% moved to another wirehouse, while 18% went independent. Another 11% of those wirehouse advisers went to a regional firm.

PIMCO has launched the PIMCO Tax Managed Real Return Fund, an actively managed fund that aims to provide tax-efficient income and a hedge against inflation. John Cummings, executive vice president and head of the firm’s municipal bond desk, and Gang Hu, senior vice president and inflation-hedging specialist, are managing the fund.

Putnam Chief Executive Officer Robert Reynolds is once again sounding the call for a new approach to 401(k) investing, inclusive of annuities and other retirement income products. This time, he is asking Washington to create a national insurance charter that will ensure consistent regulation for assured income products.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has hired Norm Champ, general counsel to hedge fund Chilton Investment Co., to head up its New York examinations group.