Investment funds

Wasatch Funds has launched the Wasatch Emerging India Fund, which it says it the first actively managed India mutual fund with a small-cap bias.

Van Eck has launched the Market Vectors Investment Grade Floating Rate ETF, an exchange-traded fund that seeks to track the Market Vectors Investment Grade Floating Rate Index, an index of corporate U.S. dollar-denominated investment grade floating rate notes.

Ameriprise will seek a buyer for its independent broker-dealer subsidiary Securities America, while its first quarter earnings report showed positive growth in other areas.

Energy stocks are outperforming their peers in all other sectors through the first four months of the year while tech stocks are lagging behind the pack.

PIMCO is planning to launch a Total Return bond exchange-traded fund that will be managed by Bill Gross and disclose its holdings daily rather than monthly, a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission shows.

Aided by a strong tailwind from market appreciation, Janus Capital Group reported an increase in profits in the first quarter as assets under management and revenue rose.

The Baltimore-based fund company reported a 27% increased in profits from a year earlier to $194.6 million, or 72 cents a share as net revenue rose 23% to $682.4 million.

The New York-based money manager saw profits rise 34% from a year earlier to $568 million, or $2.89 per share as assets under management increased 8.5% from a year earlier and 2.5% from the previous quarter to $3.648 trillion.

Equity funds net $834 million.

The popularity of hedge funds, particularly among institutional investors, propelled total assets under management to a record $2 trillion in the first quarter, according the latest report from Chicago-based Hedge Fund Research Inc.

SiVest Group, investment advisor to the Firsthand Funds, has launched the Firsthand Technology Value Fund, a closed-end, publicly traded fund.

State Street Global Advisors has launched the SPDR Nuveen S&P High Yield Municipal Bond Exchange Traded Fund, developed in conjunction with Nuveen Asset Management, which will serve as sub-advisor. The fund seeks to track the performance of the S&P Municipal Yield Index.

Dreyfus has launched the Dreyfus India Fund, rounding out its emerging markets offerings. Dreyfus affiliate Hamon U.S. Investment Advisors, which specializes in Asian investments, will sub-advise the fund. The Dreyfus India Fund will invest in both equities and fixed income, and seek companies with strong growth potential and that are attractively priced.

Vanguard's Jack Bogle argues for more competition.

Van Eck Global has launched the Market Vectors Russia Small-Cap ETF, a fund that seeks to replicate the Market Vectors Russia Small-Cap Index.

Long-term mutual funds had $8.9 billion in inflows in the week ended April 6, the Investment Company Institute said Wednesday.

“Past performance is not necessarily indicative of future results.” Just eight words that have been repeated enough in mutual fund marketing materials for investors to tune out their message; or perhaps they have chosen to ignore the most important of those eight words, the word NOT.

They are the Preferred and Income Securities and the Focused Equity funds.

GoodHaven Capital Management has launched the GoodHaven Fund, a no-load value fund with a go-anywhere mandate that includes fixed income and cash.

Destra Capital Management has expanded its lineup of funds that emphasize income and seek to minimize downside risk with the launch of the Preferred and Income Securities Fund, sub-advised by Flaherty and Crumrine, and the Focused Equity Fund, sub-advised by WestEnd Advisors.