Fund performance

Wealthy investors apparently unnerved by rising oil prices and the potential for higher interest rates and inflation now say they are much less confident about the stock market and the broader economy than they were just one month ago.

This year's ICI Mutual Funds and Investment Management Conference wraps up today. So let's take a walk down memory lane.

The State Street Investor Confidence Index, while remaining below neutral territory of 100, rose 6.5 points in March to 98.3. In March 2010, however, it stood at 107.4.

There is a strong correlation between fund stewardship and performance, Morningstar found in its 2011 Mutual Fund Stewardship Grade research study, which examined more than 1,000 funds from 40 fund complexes.

The market's 3% decline in the week ended March 19 may be the low from which the market will rebound, according to BlackRock Chief Equity Strategist Bob Doll.

In Money Management Executive's first survey of its readership on their personal "profit" from this industry, the piggy bank looks full to about half the executives and managers polled ("Half Satisfied," p. 1). And not, to the other half.

Lipper announced the winners of the United States Lipper Fund Awards 2011 Wednesday evening.

Last week’s stock market decline may be the low from which the market will rebound from, according to BlackRock’s Chief Equity Etrategist Bob Doll.

Risk managers appear to be warily optimistic about the U.S. economic recovery, the latest reading of the Risk Index from The Global Association of Risk Professionals shows.

While economic gauges and surveys have been showing an improvement in investor sentiment in recent months, lately, some of the numbers have been faltering.

The U.S. economy has hit its stride, with GDP on track to grow 3% over the next two years, according to a report from TD Economics.

The Conference Board Leading Economic Index increased 0.8% in February to 113.4 (2004=100), following a 0.1% increase in January and a 1.0% increase in December. The index is now at an all-time historical high and 16% higher than its most recent trough in March 2009.

After two years of solid market gains, you may be wondering what comes next. Historically, the market drops 10% about once a year, so don’t be surprised if we see a 1,200-point drop in the Dow, says Kate Warne, investment strategist at Edward Jones.

Nothing that Federal Reserve Bank Chairman Ben Bernanke, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner or President Barack Obama can do at this point is going to prevent this country from going into another Great Depression.

The Fidelity Millionaire Outlook, a survey of 1,000 millionaires, found that while their current outlook on the economy is weak, many expect marked improvement in the fourth quarter.

HOLLYWOOD, Fla. -- Nothing that Federal Reserve Bank Chairman Ben Bernanke, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner or President Barack Obama can do will prevent the United States economy from coming apart, under the weight of public and private debt.

NEW YORK-Unemployment may still be 9%. Single-family home starts may be down again. But the outlook from the corner office of fund managers is increasingly sunny.

Certified public accountants expressed their highest level of optimism on the U.S. economy since the third quarter of 2007, according to the latest AICPA/UNC Quarterly Economic Outlook Survey, in which 1,168 CPAs were queried. In addition, the CPAs’ expectations for hiring and capital spending on IT and other areas improved slightly.

Thirty-six percent of the 1,019 investors that Edward Jones surveyed said they believe technology will be the best-performing sector in 2011, and 31% are betting on gold.

Fund managers are bullish on the prospects for equities and emerging markets in 2011, but have bearish views on government bonds, a survey of 141 fund managers at the end of 2010 by Towers Watson found.