Fund performance

Vanguard attracted a record $236 billion in net deposits in 2015 as investors flocked to passively managed products.

The funded status of the nation’s largest corporate defined benefit plans ended just as it did in 2014, due in large part to a rise in interest rates that were offset by a weak global stock market.

Scott Bessent, who oversaw George Soros’s $30 billion fortune for the last four years, will be managing $4.5 billion by the end of the first quarter, one of the largest hedge fund startups ever.

Munis produced a 5.8% risk-adjusted return in 2014, more than double the other investments. They also outperformed in 2011 and 2012 as yields -- which move in the opposite direction as price -- fell to the lowest since the 1960s.

The Bloomberg Commodity Index, a measure of returns for 22 components, slumped about 25 % in 2015. The gauge is headed for a fifth annual loss, the longest streak since the data begins in 1991.

Pimco’s high-yield municipal-bond mutual fund is jockeying for the top returns of 2015 after picking winners among pockets of distress.

As the MSCI Emerging Markets Index heads for its third straight annual decline, 34 of 65 U.S. funds that track the benchmark had beaten it through last week.

BlackRock’s $114 billion alternatives business, which also includes private equity, infrastructure and funds of hedge funds, is among its most lucrative.

Looking ahead to 2016, executives are focused on responding to regulatory demands, technological changes and managing market challenges.

The $358 million Northeast fund dropped 8.8% in the month through Dec. 14, more than any U.S.-based high-yield credit fund with at least $100 million.

The burden is on money managers to demonstrate their value by finding "sweet spots" that increase returns and manage risks if they want to maintain record profits and compete with increasingly sophisticated passive investments, according to a new study from McKinsey.

"ETFs are just a better mousetrap than a mutual fund,” Kapito said Tuesday at an investment conference sponsored by Goldman Sachs.

Investors resumed redemptions from Bill Gross's Janus Global Unconstrained Bond Fund in November, taking out about $74 million, the largest monthly outflow since the erstwhile bond king took over the fund last year.

Stock demand is rising after the S&P 500 recovered from its first correction in four years, returning to a range that has confined stocks for most of this year.

So far in 2015, Vanguard is leading a record $365 billion in net flows into low-cost and passively managed index funds and ETFs.

For the second straight year, tuition revenue will drop for about 30% of private universities, according to Moody's.

If the SEC's newest rules are enacted, open-end mutual funds and ETFs that invest in municipal securities are likely to become more risk-averse in a variety of ways that have implications for issuers and other investors that perhaps have not been fully considered by executives.

Net issuance of U.S. notes and bonds will tumble 26% next year, according to estimates by primary dealers that are obligated to bid at Treasury debt auctions.