Investment funds

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.

When Grail Advisors officially closes two of its active exchange-traded funds prior to the market bell on Aug. 30, the total universe of active ETFs will fall to just 28.

Outflows slowed to $597.3 million the week ending Aug. 23 after hemorrhaging $4.99 billion the week before, according to the Money Fund Report, a service of iMoneyNet.com. Total assets declined slightly to $340.75 billion from $341.34 billion.

Outflows slowed to $597.3 million the week ending Aug. 23 after hemorrhaging $4.99 billion the week before, according to the Money Fund Report, a service of iMoneyNet.com. Total assets declined slightly to $340.75 billion from $341.34 billion.

Fund managers and other experts say that target-date funds need to increase the amount of information they provide investors to understand their investment risk. But they don’t want the Securities and Exchange Commission to change the way the funds are named.

Investment funds, lawmakers and other fund experts say that target-date funds need to increase the amount of information they provide investors to understand their investment risk. But they don’t want the Securities and Exchange Commission to change the way the funds are named.

Outside of currency and fixed-income plays, active exchange-traded funds are struggling to gather meaningful assets.

A group of investors Wednesday sued the accounting giant Ernst & Young for allegedly misrepresenting the financial status of the defunct hedge fund Parkcentral Global after they lost a total of $17 million in the fund.

In a letter to the SEC, investment management firm says it does support enhanced disclosure.

Equity market volatility and investors’ subsequent flight to fixed income seems to be spurring product manufacturers to focus more on an area that currently has seen sparse investor interest: International fixed income.

Long-short strategies are outperforming—or at least underperforming less—than traditional equity plays, according to a white paper by Credit Suisse.

A recent realignment of The Hartford Financial Services Group resulted in a new position for Jim Davey running the company’s mutual fund business.

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

The Boston company said Tuesday it is introducing new Retirement Choices target-date portfolios, which are designed to take participants “to” retirement and accommodate the participant who wishes to select another investment strategy at the time of retirement.

Hedge funds finally make it back into the black, returning 0.35% year to date in July, Morningstar says.

The Toronot company launched a fund that can invest in junk bonds.

Cash continues flooding into municipal bond mutual funds as retail investors embrace yields many once scorned as being far too low. Municipal bond mutual funds that report their figures weekly posted a net inflow of $927.1 million during the week ended Aug. 18, according to Lipper FMI.

Ameriprise eliminates redundancies in mutual fund coverage following its acquisition of Columbia and subsequent merger with it RiverSource investment unit.

The Investment Company Institute reported Wednesday that $5.96 billion were added to mutual funds in the week ended August 11. But U.S. equity funds continued to lose ground for a fifth straight week.

On Tuesday Northern Trust's asset management arm, Northern Trust Global Investments, launched a Frontier Markets index fund for institutional investors with exposure to under-represented regions such as Eastern Europe, Africa and the Middle East, as well as a Asia and the Americas.