Fixed income

In 2009, mutual funds netted a total of $377 billion, with $357 billion, or 95% of that going to bond funds. Outflows from U.S. stock funds were $25.7 billion.

Stripping Rules Coming by July

U.S. District Judge William Alsup said that a 2007 e-mail that a Charles Schwab managing director wrote could prove to be a “mea culpa smoking gun” since the executive says Schwab should tell investors it misrepresented risks in the short-term bond fund.

2009 saw a 76% boost in volume for such firms.

Profits rose from a year earlier in its fiscal third quarter, but declined slightly from the previous quarter.

In an effort to help educate investors, the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board yesterday issued a “fact sheet” containing seven questions they can ask their financial professionals when considering investing in municipal bonds.

Claim SEC Exceeded Its Authority

Estimate Higher Than Last Year

Among the many metamorphoses the advent of taxable Build America Bonds was anticipated to induce in the tax-exempt municipal bond market, one of the most important was the flattening of the yield curve. It has not happened yet.

Sector shows strength as Treasuries spike

Pennsylvania Wednesday will take bids for $900 million of ­general obligation debt — ­including the largest competitive Build America Bond transaction thus far.

BlackRock Friday threw a new type of product into the mix in the rapidly growing and evolving municipal bond exchange-traded fund industry.

As if municipal bond closed-end funds needed any more help, the year-end tax selling that customarily plagues the industry every December took the year off in 2009.

The tortoise strategy seems to be working.

RS had strong inflows into its fixed income sector in 2009.