Special Program Root Tag

Allmerica Financial has outperformed consensus analyst estimates of performance for the second quarter of 2003, which were 3 cents a share, according to an earnings calendar issued by UBS. The company reported earnings of 45 cents a share, a marked increase over last year, when it had losses of $1.05 per share.

Smith Barney’s separately managed account division, the Consulting Group, has added five portfolios to two of its SMA platforms. For Smith Barney’s Fiduciary Services platform, Goldman Sachs is now the investment manager of the Strategic Growth Portfolio, while Citigroup is the manager of the Value Balanced and the Value Balanced Tax Favored portfolio.

Many financial advisers, money managers and investment experts are now forewarning that stocks, bonds, money market funds and real estate are all headed in the same direction for the foreseeable future: single-digit returns, The Wall Street Journal reports.

The Salomon Brothers Global High Income Fund began trading on the New York Stock Exchange Tuesday. The closed-end fund, managed by Salomon Brothers Asset Management (SBAM), has a primary objective of providing high current income and a secondary objective of total return.

The first China fund for foreigners, Martin Currie Inc.’s China "A" Share Fund, will not launch as planned on July 23, Reuters reports. U.S. regulators took issue with an interview that the fund manager gave to Barron’s during the quiet period, a source told Reuters. Regulators perceived the interview as a solicitation for funds in an unregistered vehicle, the source said.

Neuberger Berman reported second-quarter earnings of $24.5 million, or 35 cents a share, down nearly 25% from earnings of $32.5 million, or 46 cents a share, a year earlier.

The National Association of Securities Dealers has filed a complaint against John Steven Blount, a registered representative who used to sell variable annuities and mutual funds for NY Life Securities.

DST Systems has consolidated breakpoint information in its DST Vision customer account platform for financial intermediaries. Offering information from 250 fund families representing 70% of third-party distributed funds, Vision now combines its breakpoint information on all of these funds in one center.

Janus reported second-quarter earnings of $47.5 million, or 21 cents a diluted share, Wednesday, a 36% decline from $73.7 million, or 33 cents a diluted share in the second quarter of 2002, Reuters reports.

Automated Data Processing has expanded its section 529 college-savings payroll deduction platform to include two more 529 managers, Banc of America Capital Management and PIMCO Advisor. ADP launched its 529 Payroll Deduction Program last August with Alliance Capital Management’s CollegeboundFund, sponsored by Rhode Island.

Fifty-five percent of affluent Americans think the economy will improve in the next three months, according to McDonald Financial’s Affluent Consumer Confidence Index. Although the confidence score was 44 out of 100, reflecting an overall negative outlook on the economy, the score has increased 10% since the last survey in April, when the score was 40.

Separately managed account assets jumped significantly in the second quarter, rising 15% and charging ahead towards the industry’s prediction of $1 trillion in assets by 2006.

T. Rowe Price Group said its second-quarter net income rose 3.7%, though revenue from investment advisory fees fell slightly.

Franklin Resources reported that its profit climbed 4.5% in the second quarter, while assets under management rose both from the first-quarter and year-earlier totals.

PlusFunds Group has launched the Style Selection Share Class, a new permutation on the nine-investment strategy index run by Standard & Poor’s. The new allocation model is based on a model from CrossBorder Capital and adjusts according to shifts in credit and market risk.

Exchange-traded funds saw their assets climb $3.14 billion to $121.57 billion in June, according to Washington-based trade association Investment Company Institute.

Affluent Americans over 45 may intend to leave a legacy to their children, but 75% of them haven’t made any such plans, according to a study from Charles Schwab & Co. conducted by Harris Interactive. As a result, a large percentage of the assets now projected to go to heirs may not.

Federal securities regulators have settled enforcement proceedings with the nation’s two biggest investment banks for their roles in the Enron accounting scandal.

Eaton Vance said on Monday it has launched the Eaton Vance Tax-Managed Dividend Income Fund, an equity-income fund designed to take advantage of new favorable tax rates on dividend income.

Safeco Aims to Boost Fund Sales Via Banks