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Money managers began accumulating equities and paring back on bonds after President Bush was reelected in November.

Spurred on by the recent success of newly launched exchange-traded funds tracking gold prices, the mutual fund industry is now pondering other commodities-based index investments offering diversified exposure to skyrocketing oil markets, CBSMarketWatch reports.

New launches of closed-end stock funds are beginning to outnumber fixed-income closed-end fixed-income fund offerings, as the Federal Reserve Bank continues to raise interest rates.

Federal securities regulators are reportedly scheduled to vote Dec. 15 on reforms to the national market system, including a provision requiring brokers to execute customer orders at the best price available regardless of which exchange that price exists on.

The Securities and Exchange Commission's new rule requiring mutual fund boards to seat independent directors picked up support last week from two powerful congressional financial services committee members. House Financial Services Committee Chairman Michael Oxley (R-Ohio) and ranking minority member Barney Frank (D-Mass.) both communicated their support of the SEC's independent board chairman rule to Chairman William Donaldson. Both congressmen's remarks were drafted against the backdrop of omnibus appropriations legislation working its way through Congress. The omnibus legislation includes an initiative for the Commission to compare the performance of mutual funds under the supervision of independent chairmen to other funds steered by chairman who have direct ties to management.

MFS Investment Management's CEO Robert Manning told a gathering of investors in Toronto, where the firm's parent company, Sun Life, is headquartered, that the firm is rebounding from the mutual fund trading scandal, for which it paid more than $400 million in settlements.

Amid companywide layoffs and speculation about a possible sale, Putnam Investments' chief executive officer says he is confident that the company can get bigger by getting smaller.

Carving out a piece of Europe's retail third-party fund business can be an expensive undertaking, as companies that rely on distributors to sell their funds pay an average of four times more for sales and marketing than the rest of the asset management industry.

Could securities lending be the mutual fund industry's next ticking time bomb?

October was a positive month for equity mutual funds, which took in $15.3 billion, Lipper reported. The company compared the month's stock market rally to a similar period of good fortune in 1934, calling it a potential signal that the coming year could be prosperous.

SEC Promotes Three to Assoc. Regional Directors

Although 529 college savings plans continue to celebrate tremendous growth, the first 529 plan manager is dropping out, and industry experts predict more truancies to come.

As individuals investing in 529 college savings plans draw nearer to entering college, their investment tastes become more conservative, according to recent research from the College Savings Foundation.

Nations Funds, the mutual fund group managed by Bank of America Capital Management (BACAP), has given its team-managed approach the boot, at least on its two dozen fixed-income funds.

American International Group (AIG) and subsidiary AIG Financial Products Corp. (AIGFP) have submitted settlement offers to the SEC and Department of Justice (DOJ) regarding charges stemming from questionable finance transactions.

Evergreen will close its Mid Cap Value and Technology funds, which collectively failed to attract $17 million

Securities regulators have launched an informal probe of mutual fund and brokerage firms to determine whether brokers doled out lavish gifts to attract trading business.

Merrill Lynch may soon join the charge for financial service firms to begin offering registered funds of hedge funds in separately managed accounts, Dow Jones reported.

Fidelity Canada will launch new low-cost fund share classes

Dow Jones Indexes, a division Dow Jones, is adding more companies to an index of dividend-paying paying stocks tracked by Barclays Global Investors’ $4.3 billion iShares Dow Jones Select Fund, an exchange-traded fund, CBSMarketWatch reports.