Mutual funds

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.

Bankers at the National Municipal Bond Summit said they believe new bond issuance will increase, especially in the high-yield senior living and charter school sectors.

The strong launch of an ETF with Jeffrey Gundlach's name behind it demonstrates there is room for more growth in actively managed ETFs, industry observers say.

BlackRock, the world’s largest money manager, cut fees on five bond exchange-traded funds, joining rivals in lowering costs to attract more investors.

Asset management firms need to pay heed to the innovations happening in "fintech" right now, as peers and upstart digital firms provide clients with new ways to invest and manage money, and potentially new business models for the financial industry.

The world’s biggest money managers are mapping out proposals intended to grease trading in debt markets that regulators warn are at risk of seizing up in the event of a sudden rush by investors to pull cash.

Regulators are now starting to show interest in how ties between leveraged loans and other links in the systemic chain -- including investment funds that buy up loans -- could magnify credit losses.

Pimco is seeing unprecedented client defections from its developing-nation mutual funds as poorly timed investments and below-average returns catch up with the firm. Customers have pulled about $10 billion since the start of 2013, according to data from the fund manager.

The SPDR DoubleLine Total Return Tactical exchange-traded fund launches today. It will be managed by Jeffrey Gundlach, who also runs the DoubleLine Total Return Bond Fund, a top-performing mutual fund. It is the 26th ETF to be launched this year, but it is possibly the most important as a test of whether active management can ever thrive inside the ETF industry.

Web-savvy consumers now want greater engagement and information about brands before making a purchasing decision, and they're getting that information from influencers they follow on social media platforms. But the asset management industry in many ways is still working out how to connect with clients via social media.

Bill Gross’s $1.46 billion Janus Global Unconstrained Bond Fund trailed its benchmark in the fourth quarter of last year primarily because it had plowed about 5% of net assets into debt issued by U.S., Russian and Brazilian energy companies.