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Franklin Templeton Distributors of San Mateo, Calif., introduced the Franklin Large Cap Growth Fund June 7. The fund invests in companies with market capitalizations of $8.5 billion or more, for long-term capital appreciation. The fund will aim to invest in companies that will have revenue growth in excess of the overall economy, either through above-average industry expansion or market share gains, according to Terri Spath, portfolio manager.

Some mutual fund companies appear to be unfairly manipulating the investment performance figures they use in their advertisements, according to a top SEC official.

Prudential Investments of Newark, N.J., has introduced three unusual sector funds that mix enhanced index investing with active management. The funds, introduced May 26, are the Prudential Technology Fund, the Prudential Health Sciences Fund and the Prudential Financial Services Fund.

Some new index funds are being developed that will be based on a Dow Jones index that satisfies the strictures of Islamic investors.

Guinness Flight Investment Management of Pasadena, Calif. and Wired magazine have a challenger as to who can claim having the right definition of the "new economy."

BOSTON - Harold Baxter and James D. McCall surely would have preferred to spend the Friday afternoon before Memorial Day weekend just about anywhere else. Baxter, CEO of Pilgrim Baxter & Associates of Wayne, Pa., and McCall, up until that day one of Pilgrim Baxter's star portfolio managers, spent roughly 90 minutes sitting within four feet of one another in a worn courtroom here on May 28 as they waited for their lawyers to emerge from closed-door meetings with a Massachusetts Superior Court judge. Judge Patrick J. King, who was scheduled to hear arguments on whether McCall should be released from an employment agreement he signed with Pilgrim Baxter, appeared to be engaged in an effort to broker a settlement in lawsuits between McCall and the firm.

ND Holdings, the fund management and distribution company based in Minot, N.D., has agreed to purchase a 50 percent stake in Magic Internet Services, an Internet service provider also headquartered in Minot.

Even though Internet stocks have recently been in a slump, there are a number of mutual fund companies poised to introduce their own Internet index funds.

Monument Funds Group of Bethesda, Md., best known for its Monument Internet Fund, launched the Monument Medical Sciences Fund on May 25.

Invesco Funds Group of Denver, Colo., announced May 28 that its shareholders had approved merging eight funds and closing three in order to simplify its product line.

Nations Funds of Charlotte, N.C., has completed the integration of Pacific Horizon Funds into its fund family. Nations acquired six Pacific Horizon Funds on May 14 and May 21 and renamed them Nations Blue Chip Fund, Nations Asset Allocation Fund, Nations Capital Income Fund, Nations Intermediate Bond Fund, Nations California Tax-Exempt Reserves and Nations California Municipal Bond Fund.

ING Funds has filed with the SEC to create an Internet fund. The registration is expected to become effective in July.

Amicus Networks of Austin, Tex., and Vestment Consulting Services of Bloomington, Minn., have formed an alliance to help mutual funds and other financial service companies meet compliance requirements via the Internet.

WASHINGTON - The leading trade group for broker/dealers is hoping to reach an agreement with the Investment Company Institute on a proposal modifying the rules which prohibit transactions between a broker/dealer and a mutual fund.

WASHINGTON - What is becoming a standard business practice in the corporate world - paying independent corporate directors in stock - may become more common in the mutual fund industry.

A proxy advisory firm has been compelled to do a 180-degree turn on its recommendations to shareholders of the $166 million Emerging Markets Infrastructure Fund, managed by Credit Suisse Asset Management.

A recent federal court ruling gives plaintiffs' attorneys additional encouragement to bring suits against mutual fund companies.

Despite poor returns on bank stocks over the past two years, at least a couple of money managers are creating new products tied to the banking industry, signaling that the worst may be over for bank funds.

Putnam Investments has filed with the SEC to create a tax-managed mutual fund.

Prudential Investments Advisory Group of Newark, N.J., introduced last week a business development program to help different types of financial advisors expand their businesses. Called Advisor 2000, the program is designed to help registered investment advisors, financial planners, independent stockbrokers and bankers build their practices and become more profitable. Advisor 2000 attempts to do this by helping advisors strengthen client relationships, develop strategic partnerships with financial institutions, prospect for wealthier clients and foster their own careers.