Mutual funds

Some of the biggest laggards have managed short-term gains of more than 40%.

Among some 500 large-cap U.S. mutual funds, those with at least one-third of manager positions held by women have beaten those with none, data show.

Lower transaction costs can often come with higher expense ratios at the nation’s largest IBD.

More than half of these funds have fees higher than 75 basis points.

The ready-made strategies have been around for years, but in an era of fee wars and ETFs its popularity is exploding.

Market recovery has made the risk of missing out more pronounced this year, forcing many funds to position themselves towards historically bullish levels.

Clients opened almost 1.2 million retail accounts, boosting flows to mutual funds and ETFs, the firm reports.

Fees for the category's best performing mutual funds and ETFs are much like the price of bullion: expensive.

While Guinness Atkinson pursues the first full mutual fund-to-ETF conversion, similar moves have begun elsewhere in the fund industry.

The fund industry's latest arrivals underline the seismic shifts underway in the business of asset management.