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IBM won an appeal in the U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn a lower court's decision it had discriminated against older workers when it converted its pension plan to a 401(k) in 1999, affecting roughly 140,000 employees.

Mutual fund markets in the Asia Pacific region have passed the $500 billion mark for the first time, The Financial Times reports. The size of the Asian mutual fund market is expected to increase to $961 billion by the end of 2006, which would account for 6% of all global fund assets.

Harbor Services Group has added a new global equity fund, Harbor Global Value Fund, to its lineup of no-load mutual funds.

Integrity Mutual Funds's Integrity High Income Fund has surpassed $100 million assets under management. In 2005, the Fund beat peer group averages and landed in the top percentile in Morningstar's high-yield bond category.

Bill Nygren, lead manager of the $5.3 Oakmark Fund and a partner with Harris Associates, tells The Wall Street Journal he foresees single-digit returns for stocks over the next decade.

Jennison Dryden Mutual Funds, Prudential Financial's proprietary fund family, has introduced the Investment Monitor, a diagnostic plan-level review that helps financial advisers meet their 401(k) fiduciary responsibility. Investment Monitor provides reports for financial advisers to determine if the investments are performing as expected against their relevant benchmarks and peer groups.

Now that the Pension Reform Bill extends 529 features that were set to expire after 2010, the most important being tax-free withdrawals, assets in 529 plans could once again surge, The Wall Street Journal reports.

The SEC announced it will not appeal the court decision that nullified its hedge fund registration rule, given the fact that the court gave several reasons for doing so and was unanimous in its decision, SEC Chairman Christopher Cox said.

Employers who have failed to convince workers to save for retirement through their 401(k) plan through warnings, seminars and matching donations, are now turning to more lighthearted approaches, USA Today reports.

Legg Mason's Bill Miller issued a letter to shareholders last week admitting the Legg Mason Value Trust Fund, which is down nearly 9% this year, "had a dreadful second calendar quarter." But all too often, notes syndicated columnist Charles Jaffe, fund managers try to gloss over their mistakes.

Exchange-traded funds focused on international holdings continue to take the investment world by storm, according to the Associated Press.

The financial services industry is likely to get a huge boost from the recent pension legislation; expects predict almost $2 trillion in new money will flow into U.S. retirement funds, Bloomberg reports.

After parking investors' money in cash at record proportions, value fund managers have begun buying stocks again, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Executives at Munder Capital Management have partnered with New York-based Crestview Partners to buy out Comerica's interest in the Birmingham, Mich.-based asset management firm.

As much as investors and fund managers strive to beat the index, the task is a difficult one and usually unsuccessful.

The Senate-approved pension bill landed on President Bush's desk last week, and is expected to be signed into law soon.

Dozens more companies may be charged with backdating stock option grants, Bloomberg reports, citing U.S. officials, lawyers and executive-pay experts.

The Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday charged three former Janus Capital executives with violating federal securities laws and prospectus provisions by allowing or facilitating improper frequent trading arrangements for two brokerage firms. The three are: Warren Lammert, former portfolio manager of the Janus Mercury

Something is better than nothing when it comes to investors seeking advice, retirement market watchers agree. Even if that advice is conflicted.

Fidelity Investments and SunGard Data Systems formed a multi-year partnership last week that unites Fidelity's brokerage services with SunGard's transaction processing capabilities, on a single platform. The deal gives each company a greater competitive edge to target intermediaries supporting Baby Boomers as they move from savers to spenders in their retirement.