Investments

T. Rowe Price’s first-quarter earnings fell 68% to $48.2 million, or 19 cents a share, from $151.5 million, or 55 cents a share, in the first quarter of 2008. Revenue fell 31% to $384.5 million, down from $559.1 million.

The Depository Trust & Clearing Corp. is allowing non-U.S. financial firms to take advantage of the access, low costs and risk-management protection of its Mutual Fund Services, including Fund/SERV. It is the first time that DTCC has opened up these services to non-U.S. firms.

Although the number of Americans pessimistic about the economy in April was 49%, according to a Harris Interactive poll, it was slightly improved from the 54% who were pessimistic in April 2008.

The Morningstar 1000 Hedge Fund Index fell 0.1% in the first quarter, and the Morningstar MSCI Asset-Weighted Hedge Fund Composite Index rose 0.5%.

The House Education & Labor Committee has introduced the Fair Disclosure for Retirement Security Act of 2009, which would require 401(k) plans to clearly state all fees with the aim of helping workers shop around for the best retirement options.

Seventy-five percent of employees at companies that have had layoffs, furloughs, suspended 401(k) matches or that have taken other cost-cutting measures, have faith their employer is taking the right action to strengthen the company, according to a Zoomerang survey for iDashboards.

More small private foundations are dissolving and moving their assets into low-cost, flexible donor-advised funds, sometimes called charitable funds, run by mutual fund companies, The Wall Street Journal reports.

JennisonDryden has reopened the Jennison Health Sciences Fund to new investors, having closed it in July 2005. JennisonDryden is the proprietary fund family of Prudential Financial.

President Obama and Congress are both committed to finding new energy sources, and as such, alternative energy and infrastructure will be dominant investment themes of 2010, according to Calvert Investments and KBC Asset Management International.

BlackRock’s first quarter earnings fell 24% to $84 million, or 62 cents per diluted common share. Operating income was $271 million and operating margin was 27.5%.

UBS is reportedly considering selling its hedge fund unit to management, according to a Swiss newspaper, Neue Zuercher Zeitung, and analysts believe the unit, which has $39 billion in assets under management, could fetch $1 billion.

Hedge fund investors redeemed $103 billion in the first quarter, with $85 billion of that coming out of hedge funds-of-funds, according to Hedge Fund Research, leaving remaining assets of about $1.3 trillion.

Americans are growing increasingly worried about having enough money for retirement, but that fear is turning to paralysis, as fewer investors make changes to stem future losses, a new study found.

Recognizing the need for asset management executives to receive timely insights from financial intermediaries on changing investor tastes, kasina and Hoursesmouth have launched Advisor Vision. Through surveys conducted among Horsesmouth’s 70,000 members, the service provides insight into advisers’ behaviors, preferences for working with asset managers and opinions on specific firms and investment choices.

Actively managed funds continued to drastically trail three Standard & Poor’s indexes over the past five years ended Dec. 31, 2008.

Suspending 401(k) matches for just one year can save most companies millions of dollars a year, but doing so can severely negatively impact participants' savings rates and long-term retirement outlook, and should be avoided, according to Hewitt Associates.

Putnam Names Donovan Chief Investment Officer

Fidelity May Cut Bonuses, Merit Pay as Profits Fall

The best way to get investors the lowest 401(k) fees possible is to automatically enroll as many of them as possible into big plans with high contribution rates, according to a study released last week on the economics of 401(k) and defined contribution retirement plans by Deloitte and the Investment Company Institute.

Whether driven by the demands of potential or existing investors, regulators or a new strategic direction, hedge fund and private equity firms are moving beyond their historically entrepreneurial outlooks to enhance their operational risk management, financial controls (SOX and SAS 70) and internal audit.