Investment funds

The 10-minute, quick-hit survey rates asset management companies on how well prepared they are to introduce new products and enter new geographical markets.

The credit rating agency is seeking input from market participants on a new five-point rating scale that indicates how the funds might perform during market duress.

Moody’s has created a new five-point rating scale for money market funds to take into account factors that proved to be critical in the credit crisis, including: a fund portfolio’s underlying asset quality, ability to preserve principal while providing liquidity, susceptibility to market risk and the likelihood of support from its sponsor in the event of a “run” on the fund.

Investors continue to stuff cash into municipal bond mutual funds, exacerbating a supply-demand imbalance that has kept yields on tax-exempt bonds near historic lows.

Investors continue to stuff cash into municipal bond mutual funds, exacerbating a supply-demand imbalance that has kept yields on tax-exempt bonds near historic lows.

Fidelity Investments has enhanced its custodial platform, WealthCentral, for registered investment advisors, so that it is now possible to create block orders from the portfolio modeling and rebalancing tool, as well as conduct searches more effectively.

Buy-side firms and other market players want to expand the scope of transaction reporting to comply with European legislation on best execution to over-the-counter derivatives and introduce position reporting for OTC derivatives as well.

In the past few years, a series of converging trends have combined to place hedge funds, separately managed accounts and private banks under greater pressure than ever before. First, firms whose clients include high- and ultra-high-net-worth individuals face a never-ending battle to hold innovative, well-financed competitors at bay. At the same time, internal management continually seeks techniques to boost the productivity of relationship managers while struggling to implement sophisticated, faster trading and processing systems.

WASHINGTON - A National Bureau of Economic Research study has concluded that while Build AmericaBonds have succeeded in their mission to lower financing costs for state and local governments, traditional tax-exempt bonds still offer more enticing after-tax yields to individual investors.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has given money market funds a reprieve from following an amendment to money market fund regulations requiring them to approve of the credit rating agencies they must use to determine whether a security is eligible for investment.

New report by Allianz says U.S. pension market is expected to see slower growth.

Things look up for the bank channel after a challenging few years.

Tax-free money market funds continued to seesaw during the week ending Aug. 30, declining $2.84 billion to $337.91 billion in total assets on the heels of nearly $600 million the previous week, according to the Money Fund Report, a service of iMoneyNet.com.

An 11.4% decline in the S&P 500 Index fails to deter group plan participants’ long-term plans.

If there’s a day of reckoning on the horizon for municipal closed-end funds, the market hasn’t spotted it as investors continue to fork over a premium for the trusts.

The operator of a pan-European data network has deployed high-speed optical networking gear, to achieve trip times of 4.22 thousandths of a second between London and Frankfurt and 2.65 milliseconds between Paris and Brussels.

According to a survey by Cogent, among the top five providers of exchange-traded funds, Vanguard is the only one to make gains in 2010, climbing 10 percentage points to become a “true iShares challenger.”

Financial advisers rate Vanguard the No. 1 provider of exchange-traded funds, giving the company high marks on nine out of 10 metrics, Cogent Research found, in its 2010 Adviser Brandscape survey of 1,560 advisers. Vanguard rated a Net Promoter Score (NPS) of 33%, compared to market share leader Barclays iShares’ 20%. NPS is a standardized loyalty metric developed by Bain & Co. and deployed across many industries, according to Cogent.

Latest stories warn investors against absolute-return funds, hidden 401(k) fees, hardship withdrawals.

Municipal bond mutual funds reported another healthy slug of new money last week as demand for high-quality fixed income continued to drive investment flows. Muni funds that report their figures weekly posted a net inflow of $728.4 million during the week ended Aug. 25, according to Lipper FMI.