Special Program Root Tag

Beginning this Wednesday, Rydex Investments will launch six leveraged exchange-traded funds that will offer magnified or inverse-magnified returns of three major indexes, the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, S&P MidCap 400 Index and the Russell 2000 Index, The Wall Street Journal reports. The funds will trade on the American Stock Exchange.

The mutual fund industry is overwhelmingly in support of prospectus profiles, or short-form prospectuses, a study commissioned by New River and conducted by Forrester Consulting finds.

The Managed Funds Association issued the fourth edition of “sound practices” on Monday, expanding its coverage to include properly valuing assets, managing risks, disclosing investment strategies and risks to investors and putting more controls over operations. MFA also created a questionnaire that investors can use to evaluate a hedge fund.

The Supreme Court was scheduled to hear arguments Monday in a case seeking to eliminate a state’s right to issue tax-free municipal bonds for paper concerning its own state, but to tax out-of-state municipal bonds, The Wall Street Journal reports.

A new marketing idea we've been hearing at recent conferences for the mutual fund industry is the notion of embracing new technologies, including blogging, instant messaging, chat rooms, webcasts, podcasts, websites tailored for each individual investor and even creating communities along the lines of facebook.com and YouTube.com.

Fidelity Investments has changed its organizational structure to a limited liability company, or LLC, in an apparent move to reduce its tax burden, Bloomberg reports.

Bank of America has continued its recent wave of executive reorganization by promoting Michael A. Jones to lead Columbia Management, the firm’s mutual fund division.

Missouri Commissioner of Securities Matt Kitzi has issued two enforcement orders against Stephen M. Coleman, owner of the now-defunct Chicken Little Fund Group, for selling shares of the fund to investors served by his advisory firm, Daedalus Capital, without disclosing the conflicts of interest.

To benefit investors, analysts and fund companies, the Securities and Exchange Commission is considering allowing fund companies to submit exemptive applications electronically, rather than in multiple hard copies, with an initial draft notice followed by a notarized application.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority has fined Oppenheimer & Co. $1 million for intentionally submitting inaccurate mutual fund breakpoint data and for failing to properly supervise its brokers.

LAS VEGAS-Chief information officers and other IT professionals often find themselves in a quasi-parental role as they oversee their company's technology functions: trying to balance employees' desire for freedom in their use of hardware and software and the need to control the company's data.

LAS VEGAS-Wireless, handheld devices are becoming so advanced, consumers are increasingly relying on and expecting their BlackBerries, Sidekicks and iPhones to replace laptops for all their business and personal needs.

LAS VEGAS-As trading technology continues to improve in terms of speed, efficiency and control, asset managers are constantly clamoring for the newest software applications that can provide real-time market data and provide best execution as quickly as possible.

Federated's Quant Division Promotes Foss, Heaton

A new marketing idea we've been hearing at recent conferences for the mutual fund industry is the notion of embracing new technologies, including blogging, instant messaging, chat rooms, webcasts, podcasts, websites tailored for each individual investor and even creating communities along the lines of facebook.com and YouTube.com.

ICI Warns Against 401(k) Fee Disclosure Overload

Fund executives shopping for post-trade compliance systems have a new vendor to consider.

As international markets continue to dramatically outperform those in the United States, money is moving to more exotic regions.

Investors contributed $13.6 billion to money market funds last week, bringing total net assets to $2.93 trillion, according to Money Fund Report data, Dow Jones reports.

Thomas E. Faust, Jr. has succeeded James B. Hawkes as board chairman and chief executive officer of Eaton Vance.