Investments

Many mutual funds geared toward a special type of socially responsible investing, green investing, are outpacing the Dow and the S&P 500, BusinessWeek reports. And given the environmentally conscious and alternative energy initiatives of the new president, valued at more than $80 billion, they could continue to outpace the general markets.

Long-term mutual funds took in $12.53 billion for the week ended July 29, the 20th straight week of inflows, according to data from the Investment Company Institute. Net purchases to equity and bond funds over the past five months are nearly $200 billion.

De Beers is considering offering a diamond exchange-traded fund to boost interest in the gems, since prices and production are both down, IndexUniverse.com reports.

Individual investors are regaining confidence in the stock market and increasingly taking investing into their own hands, a survey of 450 retail investors by online broker Zecco found.

Mutual, pension and hedge fund managers have been investing large quantities of cash in the market in recent weeks, and while the pace of their buying has been slowing, it appears to indicate their faith in a continued rally, Reuters reports.

Five years in the making, it appears that Strong Funds investors who were harmed by mutual fund market timing may soon receive their share of the $154 million settlement.

The Depository Trust & Clearing Corp. has partnered with Delta Data Software to add enhancements to its mutual fund database used by broker/dealers and other distributors to retrieve important information.

Fidelity Investments has joined the growing chorus of fund companies, brokerages and regulators warning investors about potential outsized losses in leveraged exchange-traded funds due to the effect of compounding.

Nearly one in five advisers think the financial crisis will last another five years, and 33% think the American way of life has been irrevocably changed for years to come, a survey of advisers from firms of all sizes by Phoenix Marketing International found.

Natixis Global Associates has introduced a multi-strategy, absolute-return fund in partnership with AlphaSimplex Group, the Natixis ASG Diversifying Strategies Fund.

Bond funds attracted seven times the amount of money than stock funds in the three weeks between July 1 and July 22, despite the impressive 9.9% rise in the Dow Jones Industrial Average—signaling very different investor behavior than previous rallies, USA Today reports. As the paper puts it, “The stock market may be roaring, but mutual fund investors are snoring.”

Despite this year’s arduous business environment, independent RIAs remain optimistic, according to the results of the 2009 Charles Schwab RIA Benchmarking Study. In fact, 84% of advisers surveyed expect to grow moderately or faster over the next five years, with 35% predicting aggressive growth and 49% seeing growth at a more modest pace looking forward.

A full 66% of investors do not expect the economy to improve until next year-or even later-and only 34% peg improvement for this year, online brokerage TradeKing found in a survey of 3,000 of its customers.

DST Retirement Hires Mineweaser as Director

SEC Investor Advisor Committee To Examine Fund Disclosure

The recent drop in financial markets has rekindled the demand for safer, conservative financial products like stable-value funds.

Sometimes we seek out opportunities for change. Other times change is thrust upon us. Market conditions in the past 24 months have produced seismic shifts in the mutual fund industry, and several business drivers have emerged that will shape our industry's future. As asset managers, distributors, suppliers and others evaluate their next steps, these demands will drive strategies and shape new solutions.

Financial advisers have been going independent or switching wirehouses in record numbers since the economic crisis began at the end of 2007, and brokerages are scrambling for ways to get them and their loyal clients to come back.

Perhaps as a testament to investors taking a more proactive interest in their investments rather than inertia, 39% have changed their portfolio allocations since the market began to decline, Schwab found in a survey. Backing that is the fact that 54% say they have become more knowledgeable about investing in that time.

A number of Janus funds are in the top deciles this year, proving that the company’s investment team is a better-oiled machine than it was following the dot-com downturn, The Wall Street Journal reports.