Mutual funds

The ideal investing approach should control downside risk while also achieving a reasonable rate of growth. Here are a few suggestions.

This past week saw a number of new offerings in exchange traded products and funds from Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management, KraneShares and FirstTrust, among others. Also, Van Eck Global closes five international-themed funds.

The industry saw Bill Gross attracting $769 million to Janus, the global ETP market breaking an asset record, a prediction on how much of 401(k) contributions that target-date funds will capture by the end of the decade and a J.P. Morgan executive joining Wilton, Conn.,-based Commonfund as CEO.

Investors have gotten more desperate in their pursuit of yield, reaching for ever-dicier products. What could possibly go wrong?

Regulatory approval of Eaton Vance's non-transparent ETF has its industry competitors closely studying its offering to determine how its proposal succeeded where others failed, and whether they need to develop and offer their own version.

Money managers’ profits in North America last year surpassed pre-crisis levels, rebounding to $34 billion on asset and revenue growth, according to a study by McKinsey & Co. Profits were 18% above the pre-crisis peak in 2007 after assets reached $30 trillion. Profits at asset managers globally also moved past 2007 levels, increasing 15% to $65 billion from 2007. Assets reached a record $64 trillion last year.

John Hancock Investments president and CEO Andrew Arnott discusses the strategic decisions the firm made as it reengineered itself following its 2004 acquisition by Canadian insurer Manulife Financial, the challenges facing asset managers in answering alternative investment demand and even potential competition from non-traditional players entering the asset management space.

With ETF assets now poised to cross the $2 trillion mark in the U.S., industry experts gathered at the annual IMN global indexing and ETF conference in Scottsdale, Ariz., marveled at the rapid growth, innovation and market acceptance of exchange traded products in the last decade.

The net-long position in gold rose 31% to 104,532 futures and options contracts in the week ended Dec. 9, according to U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission data. “We are seeing safety trade toward gold,” says Peter Sorrentino, a senior vice president who helps oversee $1.8 billion at Huntington Asset Advisors in Cincinnati.

The industry saw ETF inflows break a record, Russell Indexes liquidating a fund and mergers between asset manager service providers.

As a rout in energy prices spreads to global equities, investors are returning to gold to take cover. Assets in the SPDR Gold Trust, the world’s largest bullion exchange-traded product, rose yesterday at the fastest pace since July. The holdings are up almost 1% in December, snapping four straight months of losses.

Fund managers need to focus on more than the strategies they intend to execute. They must also structure their funds and organizations in ways that address both increasing regulation and investors' concerns about the safekeeping of assets.

Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce is weighing a bid for Frank Russell Co.’s asset management arm, a business the London Stock Exchange Group is preparing to sell early next year, people with knowledge of the matter said.

Man Group, the largest publicly traded hedge fund manager in the world, will buy fund-of-hedge funds assets from Merrill Lynch Alternative Investments to expand in the U.S. The London-based firm will acquire the contracts to manage Merrill’s $1.2 billion multi-strategy investments, and will pay Merrill Lynch $2.9 million when the deal closes and 35% of the management fees generated annually for five years, not to exceed $30 million.

Bill Gross’s main bond fund at Janus Capital Group Inc. received an estimated $769 million in new money last month, bringing assets above $1 billion. His Janus Global Unconstrained Bond Fund reported assets of $1.21 billion as of Nov. 28. That’s an increase from $442.9 million from the prior month.

Supplying Chinese equity demand is not a simple process of deciding to launch an ETF product, providers say. There are a number of operational challenges that a firm must navigate to make the offering available, including managing a complex system of global exchange that involves precise timings and potential risks for clients.

Bill Gross’s exit unleashed a crisis that Pimco is still trying to contain. His departure was followed by record withdrawals from the mutual fund he once ran, and which he built into the world’s biggest.

The world of what one might broadly label values-based investing has changed and expanded significantly in recent years. It has largely been a niche sector, albeit a growing one. But some advisors expect generational changes to affect future growth.

New York Life Insurance Co. agreed to buy asset manager IndexIQ, pushing into exchange-traded funds and adding offerings for retail investors who want to copy hedge fund approaches.

Northwestern Mutual completed its $2.7 billion sale of asset manager Russell Investments to the London Stock Exchange Group, the Milwaukee, Wis. firm announced.