Subject Root Tag

The adviser to the Monetta Family of Mutual Funds and the company's top executive will appeal a recent Securities and Exchange Commission ruling that the firm and executives associated with the funds committed fraud.

ND Holdings is acquiring ARM Securities Corp., a mutual fund and annuities broker dealer filing for bankruptcy, for an undisclosed amount of cash.

At an upcoming roundtable on investment advisors May 23, the Securities and Exchange Commission will explore whether investment advisors should form a self-regulatory organization in the manner of the National Association of Securities Dealers, among other issues.

Despite an average 14 percent decline in performance among science, technology and telecommunications funds during April, fund companies continue to introduce technology funds. The average mutual fund declined 3.3 percent in value during April.

Oppenheimer will offer a long-term capital-appreciation mutual fund to invest in U.S. and foreign emerging technology companies with significant growth potential, according to an April 25 filing with the SEC. Oppenheimer Emerging Technologies Fund will focus on companies involved in bandwidth, technologically advanced data transmission, telecommunications, and wireless and satellite communications.

The SEC appears to have succeeded with its appeals to the mutual fund industry to limit redemption fees to two percent.

A written agreement that established specific guidelines on how a market timer could time investments in AIM Asset Management's funds is the subject of a lawsuit filed by the market timer against AIM's transfer agent.

BOSTON - A form of mutual fund style drift is now being examined by the Securities and Exchange Commission in its review of mutual funds and their performance advertising practices.

A hearing held May 1 on a request by Scudder Kemper Investments of Boston for a preliminary injunction against Robert Hoffman, Scudder's former managing director, gave no clues as to the possible outcome of pending arbitration between the two parties, according to an industry lawyer.

The world of exchange-traded funds - so far dominated by two of the money management industry's largest players - is about to get an unconventional competitor.

Almost two-thirds of Americans have not garnered substantial gains from the stock market surge and 10 percent say their stock gains will provide enough for early retirement, according to a recent survey by Keyport Life Insurance Co.

On May 1, Calvert Group of Bethesda, Md. was to introduce its flagship Calvert Social Index which includes predominantly large-cap companies that have passed social screens Calvert employs under its socially-responsible investment mandate. Although Calvert has been one of the pioneers of socially-responsible investments, this is the first social index Calvert has created.

The SEC is looking into how fund companies process money earmarked for closed funds, said Cindy Fornelli, an advisor to Paul Roye, director of the SEC's division of investment management.

Hussman Investment Trust of Cincinnati, Ohio, filed a prospectus with the SEC April 21 to offer the Hussman Strategic Growth Fund.

Venus Capital Management of Boston last week filed with the SEC to introduce a new fund, The India Technology Fund.

Although assets in socially-responsible funds have grown from $1.185 trillion in 1997 to $2.16 trillion in 1999, socially-screened funds are under-represented in 401(k) plans, said mutual fund industry executives.

A hearing on a request by Scudder Kemper Investments of Boston for a preliminary injunction against Robert Hoffman, Scudder's former managing director, is scheduled for May 1. A hearing was scheduled after Scudder filed a complaint in U.S. District Court April 17 alleging Hoffman is violating terms of a separation agreement he signed with the firm. If issued, the injunction would prohibit Hoffman from hiring Scudder-Kemper employees or soliciting any of its clients. A temporary restraining order to prevent Hoffman from hiring Scudder employees was issued when the complaint was filed.

Mutual fund companies and registered investment advisors need to do more to monitor the accuracy of the information on their websites, according to a top SEC official.

Summit Mutual Funds of Cincinnati, Ohio, will start a "socially-responsible" index fund on June 26 that places a greater weight than its index on companies that engage in ethical business practices. But, the fund does not exclude any companies, according to an SEC filing.

The private asset management division of The Dreyfus Corp. of New York, is planning to offer 13 new funds to high-net-worth clients.