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While small-time investors are able to invest more often and safely, some caveats in mutual fund regulations have prevented them from maximizing their returns, according to a Milken Institute Review article.

Shareholders will garner more power thanks to a pending Securities and Exchange Commission proposal, but as the commissioners get closer to a final decision, a compromise that makes everyone happy – or sort of happy – seems imminent, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Principal Financial Group has announced a turnkey savings tool to help employees boost retirement savings, and separately Fitch Ratings affirmed its debt ratings.

Principal Financial Group has announced a turnkey savings tool to help employees boost retirement savings, and separately Fitch Ratings affirmed its debt ratings.

Just as the Dow Jones Industrial Average recently dropped to a new low for the year, ProFund Advisors has launched the UltraShort Dow 30 ProFund. Tied to the Dow as its benchmark index, the fund is designed to move double the inverse, before fees and other expenses. If the Dow falls 1% on a given day, for instance, the fund should rise 2%.

Mutual fund boards are winning the respect of Morningstar by taking independent steps to represent the interests of their shareholders. The board of the WWW Internet Fund drew high praise from Morningstar analyst Russel Kinnel by taking steps to merge or disband sub-par investments.

The Federal Reserve hiked the key short-term interest rate by 25 basis points on Tuesday, bringing the fed funds target rate to 1.50%.

The Government Accountability Office told a Congressional subcommittee that proposed SEC guidelines to curb market timing and late trading could harm shareholders. Mutual fund investors could face another increase in administrative expenses if regulators succeed in implementing new standards for deterring market timers, CBS MarketWatch reports.

Janus Capital’s assets under management dropped $6.4 billion, or approximately 4.7%, to $129 billion in July mostly due to market depreciation, the firm said.

Investors seeking a personal investment touch helped inflate the assets of separately managed accounts to $528.7 billion at the end of the second quarter, a 19.4% increase from the same period last year and a 6.3% jump during the first six months of 2004.

When new funds are launched, would-be investors are usually bombarded by all kinds of promotions, as companies aim for a strong point of entry into their products. But according to a recent survey, the investors are not always impressed.

Shareholders will garner more power thanks to a pending Securities and Exchange Commission proposal, but as the commissioners get closer to a final decision, a compromise that makes everyone happy – or sort of happy – seems imminent, The Wall Street Journal reports.

In a long-awaited move, the Securities and Exchange Commission and New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer have settled their first variable annuity market timing case. The agency has charged subsidiaries of Conseco and Inviva, which bought Conseco’s variable annuity business, with securities fraud.

Mark Goldwasser, the chief executive of brokerage Olympic Cascade Financial, said the firm is nearing a $600,000 settlement with the National Association of Securities Dealers over allegations one of its subsidiaries assisted market timers, The Seattle Times reports.

Federated Investors, which back in November admitted to but was not charged with improper mutual fund trading, is again being inspected by the Securities and Exchange Commission – this time for other reasons – The Wall Street Journal reports.

The Employees Retirement System of Texas said it has chosen CitiStreet Advisors LLC to supply advice to participants in the state government's defined contribution program.

Canadian mutual fund sales rose last month, according to an industry estimate from the Investment Funds Institute of Canada.

The former Evergreen Investments portfolio manager who was found to have engaged in allegedly improper trading of his own mutual fund shares likely was Prescott Crocker, former skipper of the Evergreen Precious Metals Fund and its High-Yield Bond fund, according to fund research firm Morningstar.

In the first six months of the year, Barclays Global Investors turned a profit of 157 million pounds, or $286.8 million, up 73% from 91 million pounds in the first six months of 2003.

Axa, the French insurance firm, will bid on the portion of its Australian arm it does not own after the subsidiary garnered huge profits over 2004’s first half, Reuters reports.