Special Program Root Tag

Investing in individual bonds may not be appropriate for the average investor.

Putnam Lovell NBF Securities, the financial services investment banking firm, announced Wednesday it will no longer provide research and underwriting services. Instead, the firm will concentrate on merchant banking, trading and advice, and as a result of the new direction, Putnam Lovell will lay off 35 employees, most of them in New York. The decision was partially fueled by the firm’s hiring of a number of investment bankers this year in its New York, London and San Francisco offices.

Insurance companies generally rely on income from investments to fund reserving requirements for fixed annuities, but the low interest rate environment has caused 87 firms to fail in that effort, according to a report from Weiss Ratings.

Brokers who have had run-ins with their employers, regulators or customers might find themselves on a tighter leash. That could be the result of a proposal that the National Association of Securities Dealers announced Thursday.

Neuberger Berman has delayed its upcoming Tuesday shareholder meeting, at which it was going to put Lehman’s acquisition of the firm to a vote, Reuters reports. The firm has not yet set a new date for the meeting.

Barclays Global Investors is ceasing its role as a sub-advisor to two small index funds, the $10 million E-Trade Technology Index fund and the $18 million USAA Global Titans Index fund, Reuters reports. In addition, the firm plans to back off of at least two other funds, Barclays spokeswoman Christine Hudacko told Reuters.

A good wholesaler has the personality, the character and the experience to profile their customers astutely in order to gain their trust and commitment. They know how to work as a true, comprehensive consultant to each of their clients. But even seasoned wholesalers can learn a new technique or two.

Science and technology mutual funds are up 35% so far this year, according to Lipper. While they are grateful for the returns after last year’s 43% decline, even the managers of these funds are surprised by the numbers, Reuters reports. And many are worried that investors will mistakenly think the days of astounding returns in this sector have returned.

The National Association of Securities Dealers has made good on its investigation into unpaid fund breakpoints by ordering members to promptly pay investors this money, plus interest, in cash or in cash deposits to their account. NASD wants brokers to pay the amounts plus 2.5% simple interest for overcharges between Jan. 1, 2001 and the present.

The Securities and Exchange Commission’s move to require fund advertisements to disclose a fund’s most recent month’s performance as well as a toll-free number or Web site where they can view up-to-date figures [see Mutual Fund Market News 5/20/02] may soon become a reality, the Chicago Tribune reports.

In step with the pace of inflows and outflows into bond funds, the Pimco Total Return Bond fund saw its first outflows of cash since December 2001. Bond funds as a category saw outflows of $8.8 billion in July [see MME 8/25/03], and the $72 billion Pimco Total Return Bond fund saw outflows of $834 million in the month, Dow Jones reports. That was 1.2% of its assets.

Thomson Financial has partnered with CheckFree Services Corp. to add separately managed account data to the Thomson ONE Advisor portfolio management software for financial advisers. CheckFree’s SMA database, which covers 5,000 platforms from 1,300 money managers, represents 90% of the largest investment firms in the nation.

The market may be recovering and equity fund investing perking up, but stable value is still popular if sales at AEGON Institutional Markets are any indication. The company reported an increase in sales totaling $6.3 billion in the first six months of 2003, a 12.5% increase from the $5.6 billion worth of stable value products it sold in the same period in 2002.

Janus plans to swap 32.3 million of the nearly 40 million shares it owns in DST Systems, a data processing subsidiary, in exchange for ownership of a commercial printing and graphic design unit of DST, Janus announced Monday. Janus will rename this unit JCG Partners.

M&T Bank unveiled the newly organized MTB Group of Funds Tuesday, the result of its acquisition of Allied Investment Advisors on April 1. The new fund family is the combination of the Vision Group of Funds and the Ark Funds. A division of M&T Bank was the investment advisor to Vision, while Allied was investment advisor to Ark.

While many portfolio managers stay away from illiquid, unknown, micro-cap stocks, the managers of Gabelli Asset Management’s Japan hedge fund are gravitating to such issues, Reuters reports.

John Hancock Advisers acquired the M.S.B. Fund from Shay Assets Management last Friday. The diversified, large-cap blend fund, which has $52 million in assets, will now be known as the John Hancock Large Cap Select Fund.

Putnam Lovell Private Equity, which invests in asset management firms, has acquired a minority stake in PowellJohnson, the two companies announced Monday. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Ibbotson, a provider of asset allocation analysis and tools, has launched a marketing services division, Agency Ibbotson. The unit will help asset management firms – providers of mutual funds and alternative investments – with their marketing plans, including creating custom marketing materials, education and research. Agency Ibbotson will provide everything from a multi-tiered marketing campaign to a single sales presentation.

With the stock market rebounding since March, small- and mid-cap stocks have led the way, true to textbook cases of the beginning of bull markets, The Wall Street Journal reports.