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Bill Gross, managed of the PIMCO Total Return Fund, has expanded his U.S. government debt exposure from 15% in February to 28% in March.

Talk about reversal of fortune. Up until the economic crisis took full effect in 2008, mutual fund companies were anxious to get into the hedge fund game. Now, with investors heading to the hedge fund exits, the opposite is happening.

Dreyfus is planning to launch two funds-of-funds, the Dreyfus Diversified Global Fund and the Dreyfus Satellite Alpha Fund. The diversified global fund seeks long-term capital appreciation by investing in six of Dreyfus’ other funds, including those tied to equity income, real estate, sustainability investments, worldwide growth, global alpha and global equities.

Retirement confidence has hit a record low since the Employee Benefit Research Institute began its annual survey in 1993, with only 13% saying they believe they will have enough money for a comfortable retirement, and 25% saying they believe they will have enough money for just basic expenses. Those already in retirement also have downgraded outlooks, with only 20% saying they are very confident.

LECG Expands Platform With Hiring of Vinella

Rather than stress individual fund performance or investors' malaise in its new advertisements, Fidelity is focusing on providing sound guidance and building on its trusted brand. And that is the focus of the "Guide to Personal Savings" campaign, taglined "Turn Here," Fidelity Chief Marketing Officer James D. Speros told The Boston Globe.

Half of participants in 401(k) plans would like to have the option of rolling their money into a guaranteed income solution, but that does not exist in their plan, MetLife found in a recent survey, its seventh annual Employee Benefits Trends Study. Only 21% of employers said they would consider offering guaranteed income solutions, and only 16% of employers currently offer income annuities in their 401(k) plan.

Frugality Expected to be the 'New Normal'

With new global regulations forthcoming, corporate compliance departments will need to upgrade aging systems and expand automation technology just to keep up. The time for little fixes may be over, and firms cannot use the recession as an excuse for putting investments off.

Equity funds were clobbered in the first quarter of 2009, declining 9.25%, Lipper reported last week. Performance would have been even worse, were it not for a surprise rally in March.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is considering eliminating the stable, $1 net asset value (NAV) requirement that money market mutual funds have long held, by either making the funds have a floating $1 NAV or a $10 NAV.

All things considered, earning $46 million in 2008 was far less than the $81 million Mario Gabelli of Gamco took home in 2007 and the $81 million he pocketed in 2002, DealBook reports, citing a proxy filing.

Suspending 401(k) matches for just one year can save most companies millions of dollars a year, but doing so can very negatively impact participants’ savings rates and long-term retirement outlook, and should be avoided, according to Hewitt Associates.

PIMCO has promoted 78 of its executives, with 12 now executive vice president, 24 senior vice president and 42 vice president.

Money funds netted $12.2 billion in the week ended April 8, the Investment CompanyInstitute announced. Total assets in money market funds reached $3.846 trillion.

Investors are looking for more flexibility than being locked into investment style boxes that fall in and out of favor. Merely beating a benchmark but still being in the red by double-digits doesn’t do investors any good.

Putnam has hired yet another executive from Fidelity, Walter C. Donovan, who will serve as chief investment officer. A 25-year veteran of financial services, he was president of Fidelity’s equity division, overseeing portfolio management, investment research and trading.

Several signs indicate the current bear market rally is nearing its end, and the next imminent sell-off of equities could finally break investors' spirit, according to Barron's columnist Michael Kahn.

Investors liked the idea of absolute return mutual funds, pumping $149.6 million into Putnam Investments' suite of the funds in their inaugural quarter.

The economy isn’t in a recession, it’s in a depression, but that doesn’t mean investors should shy away from the markets. That is the sage advice of David Dreman, chairman of Dreman Value Management, writing in this week’s issue of Forbes.