International funds

Net inflows into Japanese mutual funds dropped by about 26% in 2007, according to the Nikkei Report.

The Transamerica Small/Mid Cap Value Fund was recognized as the best small-cap core fund at the annual Lipper Fund Awards dinner Wednesday in New York City.

The global credit crisis remains a significant threat to economic growth, despite recent improvement, according to the International Monetary Fund.

While those at Bear Stearns who've lost their positions are flooding Wall Street with resumes daily, federal data for the finance jobs in NYC for the 12 months through February paint a picture of an industry faring not too badly.

While the Dow Jones Industrial Average soared 391.47 points on Tuesday and many investment banks' stocks rocketed in the mid-double digits on the good news of infusion of capital from shareholders, Lipper preliminary data on mutual fund results for the first quarter of the year was disappointing, The Wall Street Journal reports this morning.

Pax World Management Corp. has launched three new mutual funds focused on environmental and international concerns. The funds are Pax World Global Green Fund, Pax World Small Cap Fund, and Pax World International Fund.

J.P. Morgan said emerging market external debt increased inflows marginally from $4 billion in February to $5.5 billion.

China's securities regulator has approved the creation of three new mutual funds in an effort to bolster the country's sagging stock markets, the Xinhua news agency reports.New Century was approved for a stock fund and Lion and Changsheng were approved for funds that can have a stock/bond mixture.China's benchmark index Shanghai composite closed at a seven-month low of 3,962.673 on Friday.

The mutual fund industry in Mexico is poised for growth in the coming years as average household incomes increase and Mexican investors change their savings habits, according to Business News Americas.

Chinese mutual funds posted moderate gains in February after declining more than seven percent in January, according to a recent report.

Canadian investors purchased between $5.9 billion and $6.5 billion in mutual funds during the month of February, a significant jump from January sales, according to the Investment Funds Institute of Canada.

The British government is considering an overhaul of their tax code for mutual funds that could put the responsibility for declaring income from funds directly on investors, according to foreign news reports.

Europe’s richest families are shifting their investments from traditional assets to hedge funds and commodities, according to a new report profiled by Reuters.

MIAMI—Gary Palmer, chief executive of the Irish Funds Association, led a panel discussion at the National Investment Company Service Association's 26th AnnualConference & Expo here earlier this week questioning the viability of small asset managers.

Ramifications from the Pension Protection Act's effect on investor inertia, changes to Rule 12b-1's regulation of expenses and a possible mandate by the Securities and Exchange Commission on independent directors are among the top concerns of the mutual fund industry's top executives.

Asset managers afraid to leave the safety of the herd are missing out on crucial opportunities for growth in international and emerging markets.

A wide range of small businesses in the U.S. are beginning to take advantage of weak U.S. dollar’s exchange rate to market their products to Europe and Latin America. “We are hearing about the credit crisis every day, but we are not hearing enough about how the weak dollar is a good thing for business,” Raphael Amit, a professor of entrepreneurship at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, told The New York Times. “It is one of the things that will help prevent a recession. When the dollar is weak, imports are more expensive. So relatively speaking, domestic production and services are more competitive. Simple as that.”

Investors should have realistic performance expectations when investing international funds, said Dan Lefkovitz, a mutual fund analyst for Morningstar Inc.

According to Morningstar, four formerly closed foreign small/mid-value funds have opened their doors to investors.

Recently, the National Bureau of Economic Research issued a report debunking the theory that as the 77 million Baby Boomers begin to turn 65 in 2011 and cash out of their stock and bond holdings, the markets will spiral into a bear market. The bureau's argument is that 401(k) assets currently represent only a small fraction of people's retirement portfolios, and as 401(k)s continue to grow markedly in coming years, the influx of new investments will buoy the markets.