Fund performance

Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson, Jr. urged Congress to finish legislation that would create a regulator for government-sponsored enterprises, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and financially shore up the two mortgage financing giants.

Volatile financial markets forced hedge fund net inflows to their lowest level last quarter since the fourth quarter of 2005. Inflows fell 78.7%, to $12.5 billion, in the second quarter from a year earlier, according to data released Friday by Hedge Fund Research.

The European Union proposed a new set of rules Thursday to make Undertakings for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities (UCITS) even more efficient by eliminating additional regulatory hurdles. Most notably, the rules- which will replace 10 directives with just one and go into effect in 2011-will allow cross-border mergers of funds, making Europe's mutual fund industry more efficient. They will also permit master-feeder structures and eliminate much of the administrative paperwork currently required to market funds to other markets in the European Union of 27 member states.

Bad news for the mutual fund industry. The volatile market has stymied the "long haul" game; an increasing number of financial advisers are moving larger portions of their clients' assets into cash positions.

Federal regulators are cracking down on the potential spread of false and misleading rumors that could potentially affect market conditions.

Citigroup posted a huge second-quarter loss Friday, battered by a big write-down in its investment banking business, but the overall results weren’t as bad as feared and the shares moved sharply higher.

After a sharp fall in the market, assets under management (AUM) within the French mutual fund industry fell 6% last month.

Prudential Financial recently honored five plan sponsors that redesigned their defined contribution retirement programs, helping members to better attain their retirement goals.

Fred Alger & Company Inc. has selected Access Data Corp.'s SalesVision sales reporting and AccessDiscovery data service applications to distribute its mutual funds.

NAVA has teamed with IBM to launch a tool establishing an automated standardized process that streamlines the sale of annuities.

Money market mutual funds added $13.90 billion in assets for the week ending July 15, bringing total net assets to $3.468 trillion, according to iMoneyNet Inc.’s Money Fund Report.

The honeymoon between Chinese mutual fund investors and the surging market appears to be over. Investors are attributing large financial loses to what many are characterizing as “unprofessional” management, China Daily reports. Beginning in the third quarter last years, a surge in the Chinese market prompted 23 mutual funds to split their funds, which decreased the price, to try to expand scale quickly.

Hard times, unemployment and medical emergencies are leading more and more workers to take loans from their 401(k) retirement plans.

London-based hedge fund The Children’s Investment Fund Management LLP (TCI) posted its largest monthly loss ever – over $1 billion – for June 2008.

Wells Fargo & Co., while bruised by California's slumping housing market, increased revenue by capitalizing on recent acquisitions in its insurance business and growing demand in the agriculture sector to beat analysts' second-quarter earnings expectations.

U.S. Bancorp has named William Benjamin as CEO of U.S. Bancorp Investments Inc. and U.S. Bancorp Insurance Services LLC.

WASHINGTON — Given another day to consider the Treasury Department’s plan to backstop Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, lawmakers were considerably less enthusiastic and seemed likely to make significant changes. Some Senate Banking Committee members were downright skeptical, arguing that the plan’s costs must be pinpointed.

State Street Corp.'s top executive said market conditions will make it difficult for his Boston company to maintain its strong second-quarter growth, but he hopes to weather the second half by focusing on core businesses, cutting expenses, and attracting new customers.

President and CEO of Federated Investors, Inc., J. Christopher Donahue, recently announced Federated’s acquisition of assets associated with the Prudent Bear and Prudent Global Income Funds. Federated is set to purchase these assets from David W. Tice & Associates at an initial price of $43 million with future contingent payments over the next four years of up to $100 million. These funds have an estimated net worth of $1.2 billion and $502 million, respectively.

Turning the collection of market data into a competitive business is a fatally flawed idea, said the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association last week in response to a Securities and Exchange Commission proposal that seeks to do so.