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UBS will acquire ABN AMRO's futures and options business for $386 million, plus net tangible assets, the companies announced Thursday.

Anthony Bolton, manager of the Fidelity Special Situations Fund, believes recent declines in stock markets around the world, including the U.S., will continue for months, Bloomberg reports. And Bolton has accurately predicted declines in the past, most notably the beginning of the bear market in March 2000.

The Securities and Exchange Commission, Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service are investigating more than 25 companies as to whether they illegally backdated stock option awards to executives to allow them to buy the securities at artificially low prices, thereby increasing the executives' profits when they exercised the options, Bloomberg reports.

The Securities and Exchange Commission, Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service are investigating more than 25 companies as to whether they illegally backdated stock option awards to executives to allow them to buy the securities at artificially low prices, thereby increasing the executives' profits when they exercised the options, Bloomberg reports.

Investor expenses have dropped for a second straight year, the Los Angeles Times reports.

Envision Financial Systems has added a document workflow capacity from EMC to its transfer agency system, making the Documentum ApplicationXtender part of its PowerAgent platform.

Fidelity has launched a new international stock fund, the Fidelity International Value Fund. The portfolio will be invested in undervalued foreign securities, bringing Fidelity's total line up of international funds to 20.

Assets in separately managed accounts rose 25% in the first quarter from the year-ago period, to $736.4 billion, up from $590.1 billion, according to data from the Money Management Institute. From the previous quarter, SMA assets grew 8.6%, from $678.1 billion at the end of last year.

Former U.S. Senator and Democratic vice presidential nominee John Edwards has partnered with former Congressman and Republican vice presidential nominee Jack Kemp to launch a national "Savers Society" campaign calling on companies to offer automatic 401(k) options.

Intech, the biggest driver of growth at Janus, plans to expand on its new global separately managed accounts that it launched in January for its institutional clients with new international offerings, The Wall Street Journal reports.

JPMorgan has launched five target-date funds and one retirement income fund, responding to the growing popularity of these "set it and forget it" types of funds.

Former Norbourg President Vincent Lacroix plans to appeal a court's decision to declare him bankrupt and seize his $37 million in assets, Montreal Gazette reports.

Private equity firm Hellman & Friedman is considering acquiring Gartmore Investment Management, sources tell Bloomberg. The asking price may be $944 million, they said.

As hedge funds continue to reap assets--and gain influence as investors--European regulators are considering imposing new rules on them, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Fidelity Investments on Monday corrected omissions of holdings in first-quarter filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission by filing amended 13F forms. The company had omitted nearly 500 stocks out of its total holdings of just over 3,000 securities, or 16% of its holdings, a Fidelity spokesman indicated.

If a hacker breaks into an investor's mutual fund account, the law says the account holder is on his own, but many brokerage companies are working to make online investing a less frightening proposition, according to the Akron Beacon Journal.

American International Group plans to enter the asset management business in India by offering mutual funds, beginning with a real estate fund, Asia Pulse reports. The insurance and investment management behemoth is also considering offering consumer finance products, as well as mortgage guarantees and capital recovery.

President Bush late last week nominated Kathleen Casey, staff director and chief attorney for the Senate Banking Committee, to replace outgoing Securities and Exchange Commission Commissioner Cynthia Glassman - a move that a number of industry trade groups praised, MarketWatch reports.

Raymond James has launched a closed-end mutual fund that tracks the 100 stocks its analysts rate as a "strong buy-1," its top rating, the St. Petersburg Times reports. Raymond James is sub-advisor, while Claymore Advisors is manager of the new fund, the Claymore/Raymond James SB-1 Equity Fund.

No-load funds are not hard to find, yet investors continue to pay up-front broker commissions to get in the market, according to MarketWatch.