Investment funds

In the bull market, investors have stampeded to aggressive mutual funds. But will investors flock to bearish mutual funds with the same enthusiasm if the markets face a sustained bear market? That is a bet some fund advisers are taking - with mixed results.

NEW YORK - Online investment calculators and research on the Internet are augmenting rather than threatening the livelihood of financial advisors, according to a survey by the Forum for Investor Advice of New York.

Despite an average 14 percent decline in performance among science, technology and telecommunications funds during April, fund companies continue to introduce technology funds. The average mutual fund declined 3.3 percent in value during April.

Oppenheimer will offer a long-term capital-appreciation mutual fund to invest in U.S. and foreign emerging technology companies with significant growth potential, according to an April 25 filing with the SEC. Oppenheimer Emerging Technologies Fund will focus on companies involved in bandwidth, technologically advanced data transmission, telecommunications, and wireless and satellite communications.

The world of exchange-traded funds - so far dominated by two of the money management industry's largest players - is about to get an unconventional competitor.

On May 1, Calvert Group of Bethesda, Md. was to introduce its flagship Calvert Social Index which includes predominantly large-cap companies that have passed social screens Calvert employs under its socially-responsible investment mandate. Although Calvert has been one of the pioneers of socially-responsible investments, this is the first social index Calvert has created.

Hussman Investment Trust of Cincinnati, Ohio, filed a prospectus with the SEC April 21 to offer the Hussman Strategic Growth Fund.

Venus Capital Management of Boston last week filed with the SEC to introduce a new fund, The India Technology Fund.

Summit Mutual Funds of Cincinnati, Ohio, will start a "socially-responsible" index fund on June 26 that places a greater weight than its index on companies that engage in ethical business practices. But, the fund does not exclude any companies, according to an SEC filing.

The private asset management division of The Dreyfus Corp. of New York, is planning to offer 13 new funds to high-net-worth clients.

State Street Global Advisors of Boston has filed with the SEC to offer eight exchange-traded funds, five of them based on the Dow Jones Industrial Average. One is based on the Wilshire REIT Index and two on Morgan Stanley technology indexes - the Morgan Stanley High Tech 35 and the Morgan Stanley Internet Index.

Aquila Management Corp. of New York, adviser to the Aquila Group of Funds, has created two new equity funds with economist Arthur B. Laffer.

NEW YORK - Even though exchange-traded funds are among the largest 10 index funds in each major asset class and make up 10 percent of all index funds, fund companies are wary of offering the product, according to one industry executive.

Putnam Investments of Boston is considering creating a new type of cloned fund sensitive to capital gains taxes, said Gordon Forrester, managing director at Putnam.

Janus of Denver, Colo. is creating a new line of funds to expand its sales through plan sponsors, broker/dealer wrap programs and bank trust departments.

OppenheimerFunds of New York is planning to offer a new technology fund.

Within the next year, the mutual fund industry can expect to see a new share class attached to some equity funds that allows them to be traded throughout the day and includes features common to exchange-traded funds, according to executives in the mutual fund industry.

NEW YORK - Amerindo Investment Advisors of New York plans to launch two new technology-related mutual funds, as well as a clone of its flagship Amerindo Technology Fund.

There is a new player in the socially-responsible mutual fund arena. Friends Ivory & Sime, best known as an institutional global money manager based in London, has launched two new no-load socially responsible funds.

The Vanguard Group of Malvern, Pa. has filed registration statements with the SEC to introduce two new international index funds and to add an institutional share class for three existing international index funds, the company announced last week.