Investment funds

Bear market fund investors have struck it rich, with the best-performing such fund, the Rydex Inverse Nasdaq 100 Fund, up 107% over the past 12 months, businessworld.com reports. Year-to-date, the fund is up 88.7%, and in the past month alone, 16.6%.

While asset flows have continued at a steady clip for exchange-traded funds—the funds have taken in $100 billion so far this year—widespread declines in the values of all asset classes have siphoned about 30% of ETF assets, leaving a net of $440 billion in 716 ETFs, Dow Jones reports.

Vanguard has reopened the $1.5 billion Vanguard International Explorer Fund, which closed in 2004, and the $3 billion Vanguard Precious Metals and Mining Fund, which closed in 2004. The minimum required initial investment in the international fund is $25,000, and the minimum initial investment in the metals fund is $10,000.

Adviser confidence in the economy and stock market sank this month for the second consecutive month, according to Rydex AdvisorBenchmarking, a division of Rydex Investments.

Prudential Arm Hires Structured Exec Bonesteel

NEW YORK - The fragmented, free-for-all liquidity in the marketplace is aggravating the extreme volatility in the stock market, and experts say a more organized, specialized system is needed.

With the stock market down 40% in the past year, many investors are reassessing their investments. Many, in fact, are bailing out of equity mutual funds, vowing never to return.

4,000 Could Lose Jobs at Fidelity

LAS VEGAS - As companies pare back their operational budgets and look for ways to trim costs, chief information officers are being challenged to make their IT departments do far more with much less.

The question everyone is asking, not just shell-shocked investors, but financial advisers and economists as well, is how low can the Dow Jones Industrial Average go? And the answer is, very, very low. Some pessimists are now predicting the Dow 900.

The Reserve Management Company has begun making distributions to shareholders at an initial rate of 50 cents on the dollar, and its president says the company plans to pay the rest soon.

The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) will begin publishing aggregate market data on credit derivatives, starting Nov. 4.

Adviser confidence in the economy and stock market sank this month for the second consecutive month, according to Rydex AdvisorBenchmarking Inc., a Rockville, Md., unit of Rydex Investments.

Many large corporations and asset managers in Massachusetts are planning to cut jobs, and by the best estimates, the state could lose jobs for 4%, or 7,200, of its financial servcies workforce by the end of next year, slightly higher than an estimated 3% decrease in the rest of the nation, The Boston Globe reports.

Speaking before students at MIT, billionaire investor George Soros predicted that the number of hedge funds could shrink by as many as two-thirds, the Ottowa Citizen reports.

Adviser confidence in the economy and stock market sank this month for the second consecutive month, according to Rydex AdvisorBenchmarking, a division of Rydex Investments.

Investors’ list of financial concerns is growing longer. Added to the fear of not having enough money in retirement or being able to pay for their children’s college are concerns about healthcare and declining values in their savings and homes.

Asset management firms are increasing their sales and marketing budgets for the defined contribution investment only marketplace by 28% this year, according to a report from Sway Research called “Best Practices in DCIO Sales and Marketing.”

E-mails, letters and website messages from mutual fund companies to nervous investors are heavily on the rise, Rocky Mountain News reports. Across the baord, the message is: don’t quit the markets, for in the long term, the markets won’t quit you.

The saga of Samuel Israel continues, with the $450 million Bayou hedge fund swindler now being sent to federal medical prison forpsychiatric evaluation. U.S. White Plains District Court Judge Kenneth Karas has sent Israel to Butner North Carolina Federal Medical Center for a complete medical and psychological evaluation, which could take up to 90 days.