Investments

Municipal bond mutual funds saw inflows for the 27th consecutive week. Funds that report their flows weekly recorded inflows of $621 million for the week ended Oct. 17.

Total assets in registered alternative mutual funds and exchange-traded funds are projected to reach $330 billion by year-end 2012—nearly double the $169 billion of assets in 2007. If the industry can raise advisors’ and clients’ comfort level with liquid alternatives, that figure could virtually double again, to $650 billion in 2017, according to a new study by Financial Research Corporation (FRC).

Boston-Determining which asset classes and markets are currently attracting the most investor attention can be a daunting task for asset managers.

Since Hatteras Funds acquired the Alpha Hedged Strategies Fund in 2009 from AIP Mutual Funds, the fund family has grown to $700 million in assets under management.

The move by Vanguard, the nation's third largest manager of ETFs, to change the benchmark on 22 of its index funds and ETFs earlier this month reverberated throughout the indexing industry, placing it squarely on the battlefield as the pricing war between two of the biggest ETF makers rages on.

Total money market mutual fund assets increased by $5.84 billion to $2.568 trillion for the week ended Wednesday, October 17, according to data from the Investment Company Institute.

OppenheimerFunds is prepping a diversified alternative fund that will bet on its own offerings.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch has promoted Keith Glenfield to head of the firm’s Alternative Investments Group, as the firm seeks to expand its growth when it comes to hedge funds, private equity and other alternative investments.

Morningstar’s fund analysts doled out two Gold ratings in the past week to funds managed by Franklin Templeton Investments and Aston Funds.

Here’s one alternative fund that won’t be on advisors’ list this Christmas.

Continuing a blitz of new fund and ETF activity over the past few weeks, BlackRock has filed to launch four more funds, including two multi-asset funds and two short-term bond funds, according to a report by Morningstar.

For the week ended Wednesday, October 17, investors injected $10.6 billion into open-end funds and exchange-traded funds and another $13.1 billion into money market funds, according to data from Lipper.

Franklin Templeton Investments announced the launch of its new online, interactive retirement center for advisors and plans sponsors on Thursday.

Vienna, Va.-based software company Eloqua, known for its marketing software, released Eloqua Asset Management, which it touts as the first-ever platform of marketing software aimed at institutional asset managers, mutual fund wholesalers and marketers in the financial services sector.

Putnam Advisory, a unit of Boston-based Putnam Investments, was charged yesterday by Massachusetts state regulators with deceiving investors who purchased about $3 billion in mortgage-related securities created and sold by Putnam several years ago.

Despite the worldwide market turmoil of recent years, U.S. investors have been boosting their allocation to overseas funds, but need more education from advisors to battle a serious overweight in U.S. stocks, according to a new white paper.

BOSTON - The membership of the National Investment Service Company Association voted to change the trade association's legal name to simply NICSA.

The membership of the fund services industry association Thursday morning named five new directors to its board and Fred Naddaff of Sungard as the board's chairman.

Asset allocation isn’t just about performance, it’s all about the client, advisors said in a panel discussion at the Money Management Institute Fall Solutions conference Thursday.

Morgan Stanley reported on Thursday that its global wealth management business saw it pre-tax income fall to $239 million, down from $356 million one year ago, and net revenue of $3.34 billion, up from $3.23 billion in the third quarter of 2011, as the firm closed its acquisition of the next stake in the Smith Barney joint venture.