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Rather than simply generate reports for portfolio managers to use, fund analysts at leading companies including Fidelity, Putnam and MFS are getting more say in which stocks a fund selects in funds they are labeling “sector” or “research” funds, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Noting that 15% of 401(k) participants have engaged in some form of “leakage,” that is, hardship withdrawals from their plans or failure to roll the money over when changing jobs, between 1998 and 2006, the Government Accountability Office is recommending that Congress eliminate the ban on additional contributions for six months by those who make such withdrawals.

If global markets recover, investors may want to consider the greater growth opportunities that emerging market funds can offer over their domestic peers, particularly as growth is projected to be strong in developing countries, while the U.S. and other established nations struggle under mounds of debt.

A provision by the Internal Revenue Service that permits people age 70-1/2 or older to contribute up to $100,000 of their IRA money to a charity each year without tax consequences is slated to expire at the end of the year.

The Hartford Merges Investment, Retirement Products Into One Division

SEC Creates New Risk Division

Wholesale changes are in store for both pension and 401(k) plans, according to a survey of 140 financial executives by Prudential Financial. Nearly half of the execs at companies with pension plans said their firms were considering freezing or terminating their pension plans in the next two years. Seventeen percent have already closed their DB plan to new entrants, and 27% said they are likely to do so in the next two years.

When the Roman Empire was first expanding, regulators noticed an annoying problem: Due to increasing traffic, chariots were leaving grooves in the stone roads, but the gauge - the distance between the wheels - varied according to region. Different sized chariots didn't fit in the grooves. Julius Caesar had a solution: international standardization.

Even before the global economic crisis, financial firms faced unprecedented pressure to find new ways to leverage technology to streamline operations, reduce risk and improve cash flow management. But today more than ever, firms are turning to technology to compete more effectively in the markets.

For the past year, investors have been nervously avoiding stocks and pumping billions of dollars into bonds and bond mutual funds, but a new study indicates that a large percentage of investors may have a limited understanding of how bonds work.

Fidelity Investments opened Fidelity Clearing Canada in Toronto Thursday, revealing plans to expand its base of broker/dealers. The business will provide clearing, custody and back-office services to both Canadian-based brokerage firms and the Canadian arms of brokerage firms based in the United States, that already clear through National Financial, Fidelity’s U.S.-based clearing branch.

During the second and third quarters, American households should recover as much as $6 trillion of the $14 trillion in wealth that they lost since the onset of the financial downturn last year, Barclays Capital analysts said. Even so, consumers probably won’t be ready to start spending freely again any time soon, Barclays said.

Securities and Exchange Commissioner Troy Paredes told the Investment Company Institute’s Capital Markets Conference Thursday that as long as mutual fund fees are negotiated in “good faith” between an investment manager and a fund board, the Supreme Court or any other court should not interfere in the inner workings of mutual funds, MarketWatch reports.

Reserve Funds paid back an additional $1 billion of the once $63 billion Primary Fund to shareholders, leaving a remaining balance of $4.5 billion. The asset manager is holding $3.5 billion of that in a special reserve for legal and accounting fees.

Mutual funds took in $16.45 billion in the week ended Sept. 16, marking the 27th straight week of inflows, now totaling $283 billion, according to the Investment Company Institute.

Nearly half of U.S. companies are now automatically enrolling workers into 401(k) plans to encourage them to save for retirement, and an additional 33% are considering it, according to a survey by Watson Wyatt.

Fidelity has adjusted the holdings in its Freedom Fund lifecycle line as well as other asset allocation portfolios to include more international stocks, commodities and TIPS. International exposure throughout all of the Freedom Funds will rise from an average of 20% to 30%, with exposure to U.S. stocks falling commensurately.

The new rules of investment, post financial crisis, have investors giving bonds newfound respect and questioning even the safest investments, the Associated Press reports.

The Hartford Financial Services Group has created a new division called Hartford Life Distributors in which all sales and marketing for both investment and retirement products will be handled. This includes all strategic relationship management and business development for mutual fund, annuities, 401(k) plans and 529s.

Investors are less confident and more conservative about their retirement savings and personal finances following the financial crisis, but this presents a tremendous opportunity for advisers and mutual fund companies to help them, according to The Hartford.