Fund performance

Many financial professionals are accepting the idea that they likely won't beat the market and that investors therefore would be better off in low-cost index funds.

ETFs that hold U.S. Treasuries are seeing more cash inflows this month than any other fixed-income funds for the first time this year.

Mom-and-pop investors may sink $350 billion into debt funds globally this year, adding to the $3 trillion they've already poured into bonds since 2008.

While U.S. stocks have spent long stretches of the past six years rallying without the help of fresh mutual fund money, Bank of America and Exane BNP Paribas say the withdrawals show rising concern as the Federal Reserve weighs raising interest rates.

Stock pickers have remained largely anonymous to the larger public despite a six-year rally that produced some outstanding funds. They've been overtaken by bond legends and hedge fund managers.

Janus Capital Group Inc., the firm that hired bond legend Bill Gross in September, said profit rose 46% in the first quarter as the market rally lifted assets and its funds attracted new money.

Most stock investors would be thrilled with an 80% return in the past year. For those who bought BlackRock Inc.’s flagship ETF for mainland Chinese shares, however, it’s akin to getting shortchanged.

Carlyle Group will shut a pair of mutual funds started last year in the latest setback to private equity firms’ pursuit of individual investors.

The toast of Wall Street in 2007 have captured some of that dominance again in the first quarter of this year.

Pimco saw assets decline 5.4% in the first quarter as the money manager seeks to staunch client redemptions in the wake of co-founder Bill Gross’s abrupt departure.

Blackstone Group LP, the largest manager of alternative assets such as private equity and real estate, doubled first-quarter earnings as assets swelled past $300 billion for the first time.

Bond ETFs have attracted $35.7 billion this year worldwide, on track to exceed the record $84.9 billion placed last year.

A recent Morningstar evaluation showed portfolio managers investing more than $1 million in their own funds had a significantly higher success rate than those who invested less, or even nothing at all.

Holders of the three biggest U.S. exchange-traded products that follow oil have withdrawn almost $300 million so far in April, leaving the funds poised for their first monthly outflow since September.

Firms still have many managers deep within their benches that have found strategies to deliver significant returns for investors.

Pimco’s Total Return Fund, the world’s largest bond fund with $117.4 billion in assets, has cut way back on its holdings of U.S. securities.

Never heard of James Miles and David Green, the fund’s managers? That’s no surprise. They’re part of a group whose visibility is diminishing fast: famous stock pickers.

“Asset managers are still giving a ‘free liquidity option’ to investors,” one analyst wrote. “Investors will have to eventually pay for this either upfront, or in terms of higher volatility.”

The news that Mohamed El-Erian has his portfolio largely in cash has many investors wondering if they should follow suit. But what may make sense for a mega- millionaire’s portfolio isn’t necessarily a good move for people with much more modest portfolios.

Redemptions at Pimco's biggest mutual fund slowed for the third straight month as performance rebounded this year.