Special Program Root Tag

Mutual and hedge funds that use quantitative strategies have fared poorly of late, but rather than blaming their bleak performance on recent market gyrations or a steep and simultaneous sell-off of stocks by hedge funds, many are saying that the resurgence of growth stocks is to blame, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Mark Ernst, chief executive officer of H&R Block, said the dislocation of the U.S. home loan market could be the most severe since the Great Depression, the Times Newspapers reports.

Talk about a contrarian viewpoint. Neil Hennessy, chief executive officer of the Hennessy Funds and best known for overseeing the “Dogs of the Dow” fund, foresees the Dow Jones Industrial Average rising as much as 15% by the end of the year to 15,000.

The market volatility has sent investors to the exits in droves, Dow Jones reports. In July, investors pulled $4.1 billion from U.S. equity mutual funds, and in August, early projections put net outflows at $9 billion.

The top 20 hedge fund executives’ earnings averaged $655.5 million in 2006, according to a report by the Institute for Policy Studies and United for a Fair Economy.

The Securities and Exchange Commission announced that it settled its civil lawsuit against hedge fund Durus Capital Management and its principal, Scott R. Sacane on fraud charges. The judgment includes injunctions against future violations of the federal securities laws.

Janus announced that Scott Schoelzel, who has managed the Janus Twenty Fund for the past 10 years and has been with the firm for the past 14 years, will be leaving the company at the end of the year.

Investors poured $3.18 billion into money market funds in the week ended Aug. 28, boosting total assets to a record $2.723 trillion, beating the previous week’s record, Dow Jones reports.

Yet another article has been published on how target-date funds are eschewing their reputation for being too conservative and are taking on more risk.

As fixed income instruments become more complex and hedge funds are beginning to set their sights on predictable returns, many are turning to the bond market. In fact, in the past 12 months through April, hedge funds accounted for a full 30% of all bond trading—double from the previous year, The Wall Street Journal reports, citing a study by Greenwich Associates.

The Tokyo Stock Exchange is anxious to list a number of exchange-traded funds from overseas “as early as possible,” TSE President Atsushi Saito announced at a press conference, The Wall Street Journal reports. In particular, the exchange is interested in commodity ETFs.

Adam Bold, founder of The Mutual Fund Store, will be hosting his own public television show, “Your Investments With Adam Bold,” which will air from 8:30 p.m. until 9 p.m. on Fridays, The Kansas City Star reports.

Missouri State Treasurer Sarah Steelman announced Wednesday that the state will offer a “terror-free” fund in its 529 plan from UMB Asset Management.

The big debate on Wall Street these days is whether the subprime credit crisis is a short-term financial problem or an indication of a protracted economic downturn, The Wall Street Journal reports. Market historians fear it’s actually the signal of the latter.

ING Investments will launch a bond feeder fund, the ING American Funds Bond Portfolio, organized in a master/feeder structure, Dow Jones reports.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has promoted Mark Lineberry from branch chief to head of the office of market surveillance within the enforcement division. He succeeds Joe Cella, who resigned from the position earlier this year.

Although the dollar hit historic lows against other major currencies in July, many investors moved into the greenback to weather the credit crunch—thus boosting the dollar’s value, the Chicago Tribune reports.

The Investment Company Institute spent $2.3 million lobbying the Congress, the Treasury, the Labor Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission in the first half of the year, the Associated Press reports, citing a disclosure form with the Senate.

Back during the Asian credit crisis in the 1990s, MIT-trained economist and hedge fund manager Nandu Narayanan took a close look at the ratio of a country’s credit to its gross domestic product, BusinessWeek Online reports. In Malaysia, for instance, it was 220%, meaning $2.20 worth of debt for every dollar of economic output.

With more investment houses rolling out 130/30 funds, a small percentage of which are retail funds, financial advisers are trying to better educate investors about the funds, Investor’s Business Daily reports.