Fund performance

The mutual fund industry should proudly celebrate Americans' 73% approval rating for 401(k)s, according to an Investment Company Institute report, "Enduring Confidence in the 401(k) System."

More high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth investors considered themselves “conservative” last year as compared to a year earlier, according to a Spectrem Group survey.

Despite an overwhelming consensus among the scientific community that human activity is causing climate change, most of the world's largest investment managers do not factor climate-related trends into their short- and long-term investment decision making, a new study finds.

Vanguard was able to stand out in 2009 despite -- or perhaps because of -- a difficult market environment.

NEW YORK -- U.S. and international regulators are widely credited with having saved the global economy from plummeting into a second Great Depression, and the fragile, recovering economy can expect to see continued support for much of 2010, experts say.

As a further sign that the mutual fund industry and broader asset management business and economy are gaining strength, the financial industry netted 4,000 new jobs in December. This was the first time since July 2007 that there has been job creation, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Hedge funds had their best year last year since 1999, according to the Hennessee Group, a hedge fund advisory firm.

Morningstar has announced its three Fund Managers of the Year for domestic stock, international stock and fixed income.

With borrowing in the U.S. and the U.K. at record levels, deficit concerns have prompted PIMCO to pare back its exposure to corporate bonds, Treasury Inflation Protected Securities and mortgage-backed securities. This is according to the 2010 investment outlook that PIMCO Portfolio Manager Paul McCulley recently issued.

Chinese fund managers are cutting back on their equity exposure to an average of 86.4%, down from 88.3%, according to a Reuters poll. Evidently, soaring real estate prices has many investment managers expecting the Chinese government to impose monetary policies to curb the runaway prices.

Dennis Delafield and Vincent Sellacchia, managers of the Delafield Fund, which soared 55% in 2009, will continue to take a cautious approach in 2010, seeking out small- and mid-cap companies that are clearly poised for growth, keeping 20% of assets, a record amount, in cash, and paying keen attention to companies’ debt covenants.

Since the recession hit two years ago, 80% of mutual fund firms have laid off tens of thousands of people, as total assets under management dropped from $11.999 trillion at the end of 2007 to $10.688 trillion as of October. In line with this 11% decline in assets, fees have undoubtedly plummeted by at least $1 billion a year.

As investors begin to regain their confidence in the market, financial advisers and mutual fund executives are beginning to map out changes in investor behavior and give the old rules some new twists.

Since the recession hit two years ago, 80% of mutual fund firms have laid off tens of thousands of people, as total assets under management dropped from $11.999 trillion at the end of 2007 to $10.688 trillion as of October. In line with this 11% decline in assets, fees have undoubtedly plummeted by at least $1 billion a year.

As regulators work to converge U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), several key differences remain, most notably the different measurement attributes of financial liabilities, the timing and approaches to projects and the difference between fair value and amortized costs.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has approved new rules to significantly enhance the level of information companies are required to provide shareholders in proxy statements, but many leaders worry that these changes will do little more than add to the expenses that shareholders pay.

While emerging markets were only recently seen as an exotic investment, their promise for high returns, growing stability and increasingly influential impact on the rest of the globe has caused mutual fund and pension managers to reassess their importance, The Wall Street Journal reports in a story titled: “A Bigger Risk Than Emerging Markets: Staying Out.”

Regardless of the fact that some of the biggest large-cap mutual funds lost an average of 40% in 2008, the asset managers running them took home hundreds of millions of dollars in fees apiece for each of the funds alone, Morningstar found through an analysis of fiscal year-end data.

Fidelity Investments has expanded the investment options on its Advisors 401(k) platform, in an effort to help its advisors boost their share of the advisor-sold market.

The Vanguard Group said it plans to introduce its first actively managed equity fund in five years, the Valley Forge, Pa., company announced Monday.