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Fidelity Investments has filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission to offer the Fidelity Small Cap Opportunities Fund, an investment vehicle that will use both growth and value strategies in both the U.S. and abroad.

Although mutual funds that specialize in China delivered outsize returns last year—and Chinese investors have placed enormous sums in stocks and funds over the past year and a half—the market so far in 2007 has been so volatile that some fear it could be headed for the same fate as the dot-com bubble, the Associated Press reports.

With stocks in India said to be overpriced and the nation’s central bank expected to raise interest rates to quell inflation, the rate of growth of India’s economy will undoubtedly slow in coming years, the Associated Press reports, citing fund managers.

As Fortress Investment Group went public on the New York Stock Exchange last week, it became apparent that hedge funds are seeking a wider base of investors than just the high-net-worth, The Wall Street Journal reports. Certainly, one of the reasons for their doing so is the proposed Securities and Exchange Commission rule that would increase the minimum investable assets of hedge fund investors from $1 million to $2.5 million.

Environmentalist group Ceres has issued a list of 10 major corporations that are among the worst offenders in their respective industries for failing to respond to the dangers of global warming, the Associated Press reports. Among those named are Exxon Mobil, ConocoPhillips and Bed Bath & Beyond.

Rydex Investments launched shares of the first yen-based exchange traded fund yesterday. CurrencyShares Japanese Yen Trust tracks the daily price movement of its underlying currency, with shares of the trust representing approximately 10,000 yen.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has dropped its case against Robert J. Ostrowski, a former broker with Prudential Securities in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., and his supervisor, Rees T. Harris, four years after having pressed the charges.

Making Securities and Exchange Commission filings searchable through extensible business reporting language (XBRL) is empowering the SEC, law.com reports SEC Chairman Christopher Cox as saying. In fact, it’s the primary reason the Commission unearthed the backdating stock options scandal that has more than 170 companies under the SEC’s glare.

Fidelity Investments is going to expand its presence in North Carolina, according to a number of reports. The company, which already employs 1,000 people in Triangle, N.C., could add as many as 5,000 jobs and is expected to make the announcement at a Wednesday press conference that Governor Mike Easley has called.

Will Danoff, manager of Fidelity Investments’ Contrafund, has bought bank shares and sold energy shares to improve performance, Bloomberg reports. Last year, the fund delivered its worst returns compared to its benchmark S&P 500 Index in nearly a decade. The fund rose 12%, compared to the S&P 500’s 16% rise. The last time Contrafund disappointed was in 1997, when it lagged the S&P 500 by 10 percentage points.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce petitioned the Securities and Exchange Commission on Feb. 5 to provide it, under the Freedom of Information Act, with details about how it conducted studies into the costs of implementing the independent directors rule, The Wall Street Journal reports. The SEC published the studies in December.

Although industry executives expected SEC Chairman Christopher Cox to let the independent directors rule to fall by the wayside, insiders now tell The Wall Street Journal that he intends to bring it to a vote yet again, and find a compromise on the hotly contested issue of requiring fund boards to be overseen by independent directors. The SEC is expected to keep the requirement that 75% of a fund’s board be independent but rather than requiring the chairman to hold one of those seats, it might assign a lead independent director and give that person greater responsibilities.

The NASD has fined AllianceBernstein, Putnam Investments and Scudder a total of $700,000 for improperly paying for entertainment and guest expenses at training and education meetings.

The NASD has fined four Fidelity Investments broker/dealer subsidiaries $3.75 million for lax supervision, including allowing brokers to accept lavish gifts.

WASHINGTON-Beyond automatic enrollment in 401(k) plans, the Pension Protection Act (PPA) includes a host of provisions that offer fund companies sales opportunities surrounding not how the 2006 law allows individuals to accumulate assets in their working years, but how they distribute those assets later.

Firms are starting to implement changes to comply with the Securities and Exchange Commission's redemption fee Rule 22c-2, but not without encountering challenges.

WASHINGTON-The Pension Pro- tection Act (PPA) reflects a change not in the investment industry, but in the very fabric of the American workforce, said Vanguard Chief Executive and Chairman John J. Brennan.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is taking proceedings against brokerage Trautman Wasserman and a number of its executives, including its chairman and chief executive officer, charging them with late trading and market timing for clients and the firm's own account. Named in the case are CEO Greg Trautman, Chairman Samuel Wasserman, Chief Compliance Officer Forde Prigot, Chief Financial Officer Mark Barbera, Chief Administrative Officer Jerome Snyder and Registered Representative James A. Wilson, Jr.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is reportedly investigating whether large brokerage firms are sharing information about big trading blocks, by such companies as large mutual funds, with favored clients, such as hedge funds.

President Bush's 2007 proposed budget increases funding for the Securities and Exchange Commission only 3%, to $905.3 million compared to $904.8 million in 2006. Last year, Congress cut that request down to $877.1 million.