Mutual funds

As the Federal Reserve prepares to raise interest rates, exchange-traded funds designed to protect bond portfolios from the fallout are likely to see big inflows.

This week's highlights includes how competition is forcing ETF providers to cut fees on products; research on how corporate bond ETFs can help institutional investors manage investment flows; and Chinese demand for portfolio managers.

WisdomTree Investments has gained 33% this year, driven by the success of two exchange-traded funds that let investors buy European and Japanese stocks while avoiding the decline in the currencies.

For the third consecutive year in 2014, JPMorgan attracted more net new money to its actively managed equity funds than any of its U.S. mutual fund competitors. In a year in which larger rivals such as Fidelity and American Funds suffered redemptions from active stock funds, it gained $18.3 billion.

Silicon Valley idealists, Robinhood's founders insist that users come first and that their startup will focus on generating a profit later. But, when pressed, they say they make money by gleaning some of the interest on cash held in customer accounts and soon will charge users to borrow to make trades.

MainStay Marketfield was supplanted as the largest alternative mutual fund after assets dropped to $7.3 billion as of Feb. 28 from more than $21 billion a year earlier, according to data from Chicago-based Morningstar Inc. The $8.1 billion Gateway Fund now holds the distinction.

Client behaviors, preferences and expectations have undergone some big changes. Old ways of engaging with prospects and clients fall flat in this new world. That's why reinventing their client engagement models - and the supporting business processes - must be a high priority for asset management and wealth advisory firms.

Many investors traditionally bought high and sold low, losing out on market averages. But a new Morningstar report shows that the typical investor now is posting returns that are closer to those of mutual funds.

The client redemptions that plagued Bill Gross at his old job have followed him to his new one as well. Gross’s Janus Global Unconstrained Bond Fund suffered its first month of net withdrawals since he joined, with clients pulling $18.5 million from the fund in February, Morningstar estimated.

Municipal bond sales in the U.S. are set to increase in the next month while the amount of redemptions and maturing debt rises.

With the asset management industry in better financial health, compensation is climbing for the right candidates, whether at the analyst level or senior executives, recruiters across the country say.

Elizabeth Bramwell, the founding manager of Gabelli & Co.’s growth mutual fund who quit to form her own asset management firm and became a beacon for women in the field, has died. She was 74.

This week's items of note includes a Fed warning on potential misperceptions of liquidity with ETFs, a report on clients defecting at an unprecedented rate from Pimco's developing-nation mutual funds, a study showing underlying investment fees have declined at small retirement plans, and exchange operator BATS naming a new CEO.

Nasdaq OMX is making a push to grab more ETN listings, challenging long- time market leader NYSE Arca for what can be lucrative listing and trading fees.

Investors are pouring a record amount of money into ETFs that focus on municipal debt even as the consensus on Wall Street calls for higher interest rates in coming months.

Ballentine's clients invest in the U.S. equities market via ETFs. When the market was near its bottom, Ballentine had them sell those funds and buy into "like kind" ETFs, which they then rode back up.

Redemptions at Pimco's biggest mutual fund slowed to the lowest since Bill Gross left the firm, as performance rebounded.

Neil Hennessy says he has managed to secure loyalty and productivity from every employee by providing creature comforts while also holding them to strict performance standards.

Up to 10% of some corporate-debt funds’ holdings now consist of ETFs, a proportion that’s been rising for the past two years, research shows. Also, ETFs are also being used as an easy way to invest in bonds after receiving large inflows.

Bill Gross says he’ll keep trading for the next two to four years to prove he can still beat the market.