Mutual funds

Franklin Templeton is the most recent fund manager to target the growing emerging markets bond fund category with the launch of the Templeton Emerging Markets Bond Fund.

MFS Investment Management has rolled out Class R5 shares for 40 of its US mutual funds. Class R5 shares allow MFS to offer a lower-cost share class option to plan sponsors of—and advisors working with—qualified retirement plans, including 401(k) plans. Class R5 shares, unlike many other share classes, do not pay sub-accounting fees.

Los Angeles-based Causeway Capital Management has named Foster Corwith and Alessandro Valentini as portfolio managers. Corwith and Valentini will join Causeway's six current fundamental portfolio managers in managing client portfolios on a team basis.

State Street Global Advisors has joined forces with GSO Capital Partners, the global credit business of The Blackstone Group, to launch the SPDR Blackstone / GSO Senior Loan ETF (SRLN).

Bill Gross’s Pimco Total Return Fund (PTTRX), the world’s largest mutual fund, attracted $32 million in investor deposits in March, the lowest amount since December 2011.

Nationwide Financial has beefed up its mutual fund portfolio by adding 17 new equity and bond funds from HighMark Capital Management worth some $3.6 billion in assets.

During the week ended March 27, investors steered an estimated $9.12 billion into mutual funds, down 26% from the $12.38 billion they poured into the funds a week earlier.

Investors pumped $9.12 billion into long-term mutual funds for the week ended Wednesday, March 27, according to the Investment Company Institute.

Leewood, KS-based Tortoise Capital Advisors has rolled out the Tortoise North American Energy Independence Fund (TNPTX, TNPCX), a mutual fund that invests primarily in equity securities of North American oil and gas production companies.

Fred Alger Management has launched the Alger Capital Appreciation Focus Strategy (ALGRX, ALGIX), which follows an investment strategy that concentrates the portfolio’s holdings to generally less than 50 securities.

Vanguard Group is looking to make its investors think long-term when it comes to their investments via a new social media campaign dubbed "My Life Ticker".

Legg Mason has announced a series of executive appointments and departures following the hiring of Joseph Sullivan as its president and chief executive officer.

Asset managers have taken notice of the the proliferation of alternative mutual funds in the retail and institutional channels and have changed their game plan accordingly.

Pioneering exchange-traded fund provider Global X Funds is adding some more frontier market flavor to its portfolio.

Two more firms are staking their claims to the growing exchange-trade fund space.

Mary Schapiro, the former chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, has joined Promontory Financial Group as a managing director and chairman of its governance and markets practice.

Alternative mutual fund shop Simple Alternatives has added Clark Jones as a portfolio manager expanding the investment team managing the firms’ flagship S1 Fund (SONEX).

The global exchange-traded product industry recorded its best Q1 on record amassing flows of $70.1 billion compared to the previous record of $65.5 billion set last year, according to Blackrock’s latest ETP Landscape Monthly Snapshot.

Stadion Money Management has launched the Stadion Market Opportunity Fund, which will bet on broad market, sector/region and commodity exchange-traded funds.

The majority of asset managers have increased their resources dedicated to the bank trust channel, according to new research from Cerulli Associates.