Fund performance

While mutual funds aren't technically required to start using the short-form, summary prospectus until 2011, companies that switch early could see significant savings in printing and mailing costs.

Crispin Odey, a U.K. hedge fund manager who made a spot-on call last year by shorting banks, believes that financials are now showing some real strength, which could signal pronounced improvement, The Wall Street Journal reports.

The current rise in the markets is not a bear market rally, but actually a turn for the better, according to Fidelity U.K. portfolio manager Anthony Bolton, Reuters reports.

Optimism is returning to the markets, with 26% of fund managers surveyed by Merrill Lynch believing that the global economy will improve within the next 12 months. In January, that measure was net negative 24%.

Fidelity’s net profits fell only 4% last year, and they may be weak again this year, despite cost-cutting measures and laying off 3,000 workers, Fidelity President Rodger Lawson warned employees in a recent memo. As a result, the company may scale back on year-end bonuses and merit pay for those in the middle and lower earnings brackets.

Charles Schwab reported that its first quarter profits declined 29% to $218 million, or 19 cents per share, compared to a year earlier, when it earned $305 million, or 26 cents per share.

Following a three-month investigation, the state of Oregon is seeking $36.2 million in damages from OppenheimerFunds due to steep losses in one of its funds included in the state’s 529 college savings plan; the Oppenheimer Core Bond Fund fell 36% in value last year, and is down another 10% year-to-date.

Retirement confidence has hit a record low since the Employee Benefit Research Institute began its annual survey in 1993, with only 13% saying they believe they will have enough money for a comfortable retirement, and 25% saying they believe they will have enough money for just basic expenses. Those already in retirement also have downgraded outlooks, with only 20% saying they are very confident.

Rather than stress individual fund performance or investors' malaise in its new advertisements, Fidelity is focusing on providing sound guidance and building on its trusted brand. And that is the focus of the "Guide to Personal Savings" campaign, taglined "Turn Here," Fidelity Chief Marketing Officer James D. Speros told The Boston Globe.

Equity funds were clobbered in the first quarter of 2009, declining 9.25%, Lipper reported last week. Performance would have been even worse, were it not for a surprise rally in March.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is considering eliminating the stable, $1 net asset value (NAV) requirement that money market mutual funds have long held, by either making the funds have a floating $1 NAV or a $10 NAV.

All things considered, earning $46 million in 2008 was far less than the $81 million Mario Gabelli of Gamco took home in 2007 and the $81 million he pocketed in 2002, DealBook reports, citing a proxy filing.

Investors are looking for more flexibility than being locked into investment style boxes that fall in and out of favor. Merely beating a benchmark but still being in the red by double-digits doesn’t do investors any good.

Putnam has hired yet another executive from Fidelity, Walter C. Donovan, who will serve as chief investment officer. A 25-year veteran of financial services, he was president of Fidelity’s equity division, overseeing portfolio management, investment research and trading.

Several signs indicate the current bear market rally is nearing its end, and the next imminent sell-off of equities could finally break investors' spirit, according to Barron's columnist Michael Kahn.

The economy isn’t in a recession, it’s in a depression, but that doesn’t mean investors should shy away from the markets. That is the sage advice of David Dreman, chairman of Dreman Value Management, writing in this week’s issue of Forbes.

In a survey of the websites of financial services firms—fund companies not among them—public relations firm Weber Shandwick found that two-thirds, 66%, were not addressing the financial crisis. Only 15% actively sought to alleviate customers’ fears.

Five states are examining the underlying investment offerings in OppenheimerFunds’ 529 plan after two of the funds lost substantial amounts over the past year: the Oppenheimer Champion Income Fund is down 79%, and the Oppenheimer Core Bond Fund is down 41%.

Trading activity is reaching record levels at discount brokerages, as increasing numbers of mutual fund investors give up the ghost on long-term investing, The Wall Street Journal reports. About 20% of online investors, or 7.5 million people, have increased their trading levels, according to TowerGroup.

One shift in distribution strategy the financial crisis has caused, which fund sales directors should take note of, is that banks are looking far more attractive to a variety of advisers and more are hiring top talent.