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Fidelity Investments' so-called vulture investing practices in the early 1990s are under attack in a Texas state court.

A low-cost brokerage and advisory firm from Dallas is poised to reap the benefits of the investment philosophy of Harry S. Dent who has won notoriety with his notion that baby boomers will lead the greatest economic expansion in U.S. history and drive the economy through the next decade.

Imagine this: A dissatisfied technology worker at a mutual fund complex computer network hacks into the company website, disabling it for hours or even an entire day. Investors who rely on the Internet to make transactions and get information about their accounts will be frustrated and furious, overloading the customer service phone lines. Money and loyalty will be lost; investors will take their invested assets elsewhere.

Federal regulators are reviewing a proposed rule from the National Association of Securities Dealers that would let bond mutual funds publish volatility ratings in their sales literature for an 18-month trial period.

DLJ Direct, the online brokerage subsidiary of Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette, has agreed to form a joint venture with Sumitomo Bank and Internet Initiative Japan to create DLJ direct Japan, DLJ Direct announced. DLJ direct Japan will be an online discount brokerage offering securities trading, investment trust and money market funds to Japanese investors. It is expected to begin operating in the second quarter of 1999. It will initially offer investors access to Japanese equities, investment trusts and money market funds. In the future, Japanese investors will be offered access to U.S. securities.

American Century Investments is adding a new fund, Twentieth Century Global Growth, to its group of international funds as of Dec.1. The fund will seek long-term capital by investing in both foreign and domestic companies, primarily in developed markets. Its benchmark will be the Morgan Stanley Capital International World Free Index.

BankAmerica Corp. will take a 50 percent stake in Marsico Capital Management, the Denver mutual fund company which portfolio manager Thomas Marsico started little more than a year ago. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 1999. Marsico, a prominent portfolio manger who built his reputation with Janus funds, has gathered about $2.8 billion in assets since Marsico Capital was formed in September, 1997. BankAmerica exercised an option it held to make the purchase.

Investors Group, which built its market leading share of the mutual fund industry through a captive sales force, has gained a toehold into the insurance and independent brokerage channels.

The Internet brokerage E*Trade has launched its own mutual fund family and in the process has created what may be the first mutual fund to offer so-called electronic shares.

DLJ Asset Management Group, a division of Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette Securities Corp., announced that it has hired Funds Distributor (FDI) of Boston to direct and expand the distribution of the Winthrop Mutual Funds through financial intermediaries.

Investors in the SoGen Funds will not be the only ones hurt if performance troubles continue through the end of the year.

Federated Investors last week became the latest fund adviser to introduce a stable value fund, a move which comes as investors increasingly are looking for the stability of money market fund- style investments.

Fifth Third/The Ohio Company has created a Strategic Communications & Technology Unit Investment Trust. The trust will buy a fixed portfolio of stocks in 44 software, Internet, telecommunications, hardware, networking, equipment and semi-conductor companies like America Online, AT&T, Dell Computers and Motorola. Investors can buy units of the trust for an initial offering price of $10 per unit, at a minimum initial investment of $1,000.

PMC International, the financially- strapped mutual fund company which was spurned in its proposed merger with Dundee Bancorp of Canada two months ago, has signed a definitive agreement to be acquired by the Ziegler Companies, a financial services holding company based in West Bend, Wisc. Ziegler will pay $3.1 million in cash for PMC.

Global Investment Systems announced the newest version of its mutual fund accounting systems software, MFACT for Windows, MFACT 4.0.

UMB Financial Corporation announced that it has changed the name of its proprietary family of mutual funds, the Scout Funds, to the UMB Scout Funds. The name change will have no effect on investment strategy.

Selling funds through mutual fund supermarkets may start taking a larger bite out of profits for the companies which advise mutual funds.

Merrill Corporation, a provider of paper and electronic document and information management services, is introducing what it is calling, "Electronic Distribution Services." The new services will allow clients to convert marketing and compliance documents to a variety of electronic formats, including HTML and PDF files that can be posted online, or stored in a diskette or CD-ROM.

While John Glenn is making news for NASA as the oldest man to travel into space, a new fund adviser in Los Angeles is hoping that a NASA scientist will make news for its new small-cap quant fund.

Five months after buying Jack White & Co., Waterhouse Securities will combine Jack White's Advisor Services division with the Waterhouse Investment Adviser Services unit. The two will officially join on January 1, 1999 and be known as Waterhouse Institutional Services.