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Mutual funds are experimenting with their strategies a bit, borrowing from the hedge fund world, and testing risky investment strategy “130/30,” according to the Wall Street Journal. The strategy is a way to place bets that stock prices will fall, in hope of profiting from those declines. Mutual funds typically shy away from betting on falling prices, although a handful have tried the technique.As hedge funds and other loosely regulated investments attract piles of investors’ money, more mutual funds are switching their game.

Mirroring a trend among major stock markets around the globe to partner with others, the Nasdaq Stock Market and the Jasdaq Securities Exchange are in talks about possibly forming an alliance, the Associated Press reports.

Fidelity Investments has introduced an annuity purchase program, Fidelity Lifetime Income Solutions, that will enable 401(k) plan participants to convert part of their savings into a pension-like guaranteed retirement income stream.

HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif.-To fully protect investors, adequately answer to their boards and best satisfy regulators, fund executives must have a solid understanding and strong oversight over each vendor with which they contract.

HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif.-From hand-held devices that can execute trades, to networks able to beam reams of information to third-party transfer agents halfway across the globe, technology is evolving at lightning speed, sending billions more bytes of data into cyberspace with each innovation.

Due to tensions in the Middle East, skyrocketing oil and gas prices and inflationary concerns, the third quarter started off sluggish. Equity funds in July returned a negative 1.1%, but as the Federal Open Market Committee began to ease up on interest rate hikes and oil prices declined 7% in August, in the end, domestic equity funds posted gains of 1.98%, Lipper's third quarter mutual fund review and outlook found.

Morningstar has launched a new performance tool, Morningstar Investor Return, which will provide data on open-end mutual funds and exchange-traded funds to capture how the average investor fares in a fund over a period of time as they buy in and out of the fund. It complements the more traditional metric of total return, which measures what investors could have earned had they bought and held the fund, reinvesting all dividends, over a period of time.

The NASD fined Oppenheimer & Co. $800,000 for failing to timely and accurately report 6,100 municipal securities transactions between January 2003 and May 2004, as well as not responding to the regulator's request for information in September 2004. Oppenheimer also failed to retain business-related internal e-mail sent by 20 employees who traded the municipal securities, the NASD said.

Gallary Joins ICI as COO

To cut down on distribution costs, more fund companies may hire "hybrid wholesalers"-salespeople who can perform both internal and external wholesaling duties.

By all accounts, the equity markets in Taiwan, the People's Republic of China and Hong Kong are red-hot these days, and mutual fund managers are paying a lot closer attention to these markets.

First Hawaiian Bank has launched a wealth management platform through a strategic partnership with FundQuest of Boston.

AARP Financial, a subsidiary of AARP Services, has added the AARP Income Fund to the fund family.

Wachovia and Mellon Financial are bidding for MFS Investments, according to reports, citing people familiar with the situation.

Egan-Jones Ratings, a company that issues credit ratings, primarily on senior unsecured debt, is interested in offering a ratings system for mutual funds, The Wall Street Journal reports.But unlike Morningstar’s star-rating system, Egan Jones would consider other variables beyond performance, although the company declined to elaborate.

U.S. investors continue to pour money into international funds, The Financial Times reports.

Martin L. Flanagan, president and chief executive officer of Amvescap, has been re-elected chairman of the Investment Company Institute, a one-year term. Paul Haaga, executive vice president of Capital Research and Management, has also been re-elected vice chairman, also a one-year term.

Legg Mason warned that it is likely to fall short of analyst expectations for its third-quarter earnings. Analysts that Thomson First Call surveyed expected the company to report $1.16 a share; Legg sees that coming in between 96 cents and $1.12 a share.

HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif.—Disaster preparation doesn’t start with evacuation plans, or systems back-up contingencies. It starts with relationship building, according to Brian S. Tishuk, executive director of ChicagoFIRST.

Mellon Financial might be willing to spend up to $8 billion or more to bolster its standing as an asset management firm, analysts tell the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. In fact, the company might be considering buying MFS Investments and/or Putnam Investments, they say, each of which could be worth $4 billion.