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Van Kampen Funds on Tuesday launched the family of Van Kampen Retirement Strategy Funds. The nine target-date funds, with target retirement dates in five-year increments between 2010 and 2050, plus a fund for those already retired, are based on investment strategies determined by Russell Investments and are designed to provide broader diversification and lower risk than other target-date funds.

American Century this week will inform 17% of its workforce, or 270 employees, that they are being let go due to the aftershocks of the credit crisis, declining assets due to redemptions and falling stock prices, and declining investor confidence and a weakening economy.

In a poll of bank wealth managers a day after Barack Obama was elected to become the 44th president of the United States, 50% said they expect their high-net-worth clients to be negatively impacted by the new administration, SEI found. Twelve percent said they expect a positive impact, but 38% said they were sure whether it will be positive or negative.

While the average equity mutual fund is down 48% and the average hedge fund is down 20% so far this year, one uncanny hedge fund manager, Bernard V. Drury of Drury Capital, has posted incredible year-to-date gains of 60%, The New York Times reports.

Curian Hires Ramsier as Divisional VP for the West

Reserve Funds has begun making distributions to shareholders of its Primary Fund at an initial rate of 50 cents on the dollar, and its president said the company plans to pay the rest soon.

Direxion Funds hopes that with credit tight, eight 300% leveraged exchange-traded funds it is offering, both on the long and the short side, will resonate with investors. However, while the funds could deliver tremendous returns, they have an equal shot at big losses.

ICI Forms Money Fund Working Group

President-elect Barack Obama is expected to begin working on passing an economic stimulus package even before he takes office.

PALM BEACH, Fla. - Capturing 401(k) rollovers has been top of mind for mutual fund companies for years. Now, with billions of dollars flowing out of equity funds, $682 billion in September alone, mostly into cash, capturing 401(k) rollovers and moving money out of cash and safe bets back into equities is the name of the game.

Long-short money managers have been breathing a sigh of relief with the end to the Securities and Exchange Commission's ban on short sales of financial stocks. The three-week SEC ban on the short sale of some 1,000 financial stocks that ended Oct. 9 had wreaked havoc among money managers.

Indicating that it is the first of at least two job cut waves to come, Fidelity Investments announced Thursday it will eliminate 2.9% of its 44,400 workforce, or 1,300 positions, by the end of the month. A second layoff, the size of which has yet to be determined, will occur in the first quarter of next year, Fidelity said.

PALM BEACH, Fla. - Insurance companies and mutual fund firms are jumping on the bandwagon to provide guaranteed retirement income solutions, but experts say these types of investment options won't see wide adoption rates among the general public until they become a qualified default investment alternative (QDIA) in 401(k) plans.

Spurred by Americans' investment losses this year, Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.) is calling for a re-examination of 401(k) plans that could lead to a radical overhaul of the popular tax-deferred savings vehicles, Pensions & Investments magazine reported last week.

Volatile markets are shaking up the idea of what makes a star manager, and previous giants are falling to the wayside as new talent with new ideas moves in to fill their place.

Total money market mutual fund assets have increased $21.79 billion to reach $3.608 trillion for the week ending Nov. 5, according to the Investment Company Institute.

Exchange-traded funds continued attracting new investors in October, though most of the month’s $7.3 billion in net inflows came from three big names, according to the National Stock Exchange.

Goldman Sachs Asset Management LP plans to launch a new municipal closed-end fund as part of its existing lineup of tax-exempt mutual funds, according to an Oct. 24 registration with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The addition, which is to be called the Goldman Sachs Municipal Opportunity Fund, will bring the firm's number of tax-free mutual funds to six.

Indicating that it is only the first of at least two immediate job cut waves, Fidelity Investments announced Thursday it will eliminate 2.9% of its 44,400 workforce, or 1,300 positions, by the end of the month. A second layoff, the size of which has yet to be determined, will occur in the first quarter of next year, Fidelity said.

Even as U.S. corporations continue to announce layoffs, investors are beginning to regain faith in the stock markets, according to a poll of 500 investors by MoneyShow.com. Fifty-one percent are bullish on economic conditions, up from 43% in August. In kind, 29% characterize themselves as bearish, down from a steady 39% from July through September.