Investment funds

In light of the crisis of confidence in rating agencies following the subprime crisis, the Securities and Exchange Commission will diminish the importance of money market fund managers' reliance on such agencies when investing in short-term debt.

Lately, many frustrated preferred investors have searched for an opportunity to cash in on the subprime crisis and move on. Responding directly to investor woes, several closed-end fund companies like Nuveen Investments and Eaton Vance have scrambled to offer investors a chance to redeem their auction-rate preferred securities.

NEW YORK - The freewheeling days for hedge funds may be numbered.

WASHINGTON - Volatile market conditions and the credit crisis have put the hard brakes on new hedge funds. The number of hedge funds launched in the first quarter was the lowest for a quarter since 2000, while fund liquidations increased from a year earlier.

"I cheated my investors because I was afraid to admit my failure. I did not want the world to think I was not good enough and I did not want my family to see me as a failure."

WELLESLEY, Mass. - Gone are the supposed days when wholesalers stood around conference booths all day, cavalierly handing out golf balls, or taking brokers out for cigars and whiskey. To get through the new "Fund Selection Unit" gatekeepers at brokerage firms, today's wholesalers need not just have excellent people skills and be nimble, but be highly knowledgeable about the mutual funds they are selling, retirement planning issues and the economy, as well as be technologically savvy.

Hennion and Walsh, a small New Jersey fund firm, is introducing ETFs into 401k plans by wrapping them in mutual funds.

Fred Alger Management has announced its plans to consolidate all of its open-end mutual funds into the Alger brand by September.

Direxion Fund’s Commodity Trends Strategy Fund has been benefiting from all this interest in commodities.

Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth William Gavin charged UBS AG's UBS Securities, LLC and UBS Financial Services with fraud and dishonest conduct regarding the firms’ retail sales of auction-rate securities.

Leading mutual fund and exchange-traded fund provider Vanguard has launched the Vanguard Total World Stock Index Fund. This fund is set to track the performance of the FTSE All-World Index, which is a market-capitalized-weighted index serving as a benchmark of about 2,900 stocks throughout 47 countries.

In light of Legg Mason Inc.’s recent struggles and dropping stock price, the company has slashed the pay of CEO Mark Fetting and its founder Raymond “Chip” Mason, according to The Baltimore Sun.

Barclays Bank PLC has introduced its iPath Global Carbon Exchange Traded Note on the NYSE Arca stock exchange.

Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Christopher Cox announced this week that the SEC will be conducting an internal inquiry into the structure of its current disclosure system, creating a “fundamental rethinking of financial disclosure.”

When things start to go bad in the stock market or the economy in general, previously ignored things like mutual fund fees can suddenly irk investors.

Plans are currently underway to create a new commodities exchange in Hong Kong, potentially giving China a larger role in setting the world’s petroleum prices and adding to the reputation it craves as a global, economic powerhouse.

Hedge funds have recently increased their investment in aggressive, exchange-traded funds.

Recent hikes in oil prices and far-too-turbulent markets may have caused unwanted stress for investors, but Steven Lehman thinks he might be able to provide a glimpse of hope to pessimists by ditching the traditional pattern of investing domestically, according to The Wall Street Journal.

For the next few days, 1,500 fund managers from across the nation will gather in Chicago for the 2008 Morningstar Investment Conference, with the hopes of hearing new ideas and investment strategies that can help them reengage their clients in investments.

Capital One Funds’ board has approved a transfer of assets from each of its six fund portfolios to comparable funds at Fidelity, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The agreement, pending shareholder approval, would go into effect in October.