Fund performance

Two ranking Congressmen sent the Securities and Exchange Commission a letter yesterday, urging Chairman Christopher Cox to cut a break on redemptions on auction-rate securities for mutual fund portfolio managers and their supporting operational and compliance teams. The Congressmen pointed to illiquidity and hard-to-price conditions for auction rates today.

Fines Continue to be Levied on Fund Companies for Market Timing & Late Trading, With a Renewed Focus on U.K. Orders

While hedge fund activity in commodities is contributing to the surge of oil to record highs, long-term, fundamental supply constraints are the main culprit.

‘Bond Broadside’ Includes Two Worst-Performers, Down -73% & -70%

John Paulson, founder of the hedge fund Paulson & Company, made an unprecedented $3.7 billion last year by betting against subprime mortgages and the financial products that held them.

Standard & Poor's said the potential bill to U.S. taxpayers for bailing out Wall Street firms could grow to $400 billion. If Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are included, the bill could soar by an additional $1.4 trillion, for a total of $1.8 trillion, causing the U.S. government to loose its AAA rating and plunging the country into a deep and prolonged recession.

Mutual fund managers invested in securities with any type of credit exposure will want to know that sister publication Asset Securitization Report has learned that another major wave of $2.8 billion-to perhaps as high as $8 billion-in collateralized debt obligation (CDO) liquidations is set to hit the market.

NEW YORK - While the majority of economists now believe the U.S. is in a recession, market optimists are already looking ahead to the rebound.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), the Securities and Exchange Commission and New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo are looking into possible irregularities in auction rate securities (ARS).

A number of news events in the past week alone indicate without question the U.S. economy is at a dangerous inflection point, but so far, no one-no economist, analyst, fund manager, regulator, legislator, president or CEO-is willing to put together the pieces to talk about something other than snapshot first-quarter, year-over-year or historical trendline data that make a case for the return of the markets.

NEW YORK - The financial sector took a beating in the first quarter, but financial "bottom feeders" will speed its recovery, possibly ahead of the rest of the market, experts said here at a gathering of researchers and data providers.

Odyssey Investment Partners LLC has announced several promotions within its investment team.

John Paulson, founder of the hedge fund Paulson & Company, made an unprecedented $3.7 billion last year by betting against subprime mortgages and the financial products that held them.

Standard & Poor’s said the potential bill to U.S. taxpayers for bailing out Wall Street firms could grow to $400 billion, reports The Washington Times.

In times of market volatility, many people call their fund manager, their broker or their banker to find out what's going on and how they should adjust their portfolios. But fund executives say that the subprime crisis, so far, has not led to knee-jerk decisions.

Hedge Fund Managers Have Rough Month

NEW YORK - Equity mutual funds were hit with "drastic declines" across-the-board in just about every sector and style in the first quarter of 2008.

Consumer confidence in the economy, including stocks, bonds, mortgages, credit cards and structured products, is dropping, but experts say consumers need to stay invested in a fully diversified portfolio of mutual funds for their own good and for the good of the economy.

NEW YORK - The Transamerica Small/Mid Cap Value Fund was recognized as the best small-cap core fund at the annual Lipper Fund Awards dinner here last Wednesday.

NEW YORK – The financial sector took a beating in the first quarter, but financial “bottom feeders” will speed its recovery, possibly ahead of the rest of the market, experts said here at a gathering of researchers and data providers on Thursday night.