Mutual funds

The fast-growing PIMCO Total Return ETF (BOND) hit yet another milestone last week in crossing the $3 billion mark in assets, Morningstar reports.

MFS Investment Management has expanded its Defined Contribution Investments Only specialist sales team from seven to nine, with the addition of new positions in the Mid-West and Southeast.

FISCO Funds Management LLC, a U.S.-based family of alternative investment managers, and OP 8 Analytics is teaming up to launch a new investment management company, CARF Management.

In the past three years, bond funds have been raking in the assets.

FISCO Funds Management LLC, a U.S.-based family of alternative investment managers, and OP 8 Analytics is teaming up to launch a new investment management company, CARF Management.

Neuberger Berman is bringing value investment management shop Glickenhaus & Co. and its $900 million in client assets for high net worth individuals and non-profit institutions into its fold.

More than 4,000 shareholders in Baron Funds crammed into the Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center in New York City last Friday to hear investment and market analysis along with songs belted out by Celine Dion, Harry Connick, Jr. and others.

Last month, the Board of Trustees of the Huntington Funds voted to close and liquidate the Huntington Macro 100 Fund, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.

Fidelity Investments has named Papillion, Nebraska, as the site for its new $200 million data center, which it plans to have constructed and operating by 2014.

The $696 million Invesco Balanced-Risk Commodity Strategy Fund is closing to new investors on November 15, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.

The Charles Schwab Corporation has agreed to buy ThomasPartners, a dividend income-focused asset management firm with $2.3 billion in assets, for $85 million in cash and additional payments contingent on future growth in assets.

'Tis the season when the leaves change, the National Football League is kicking its season into second gear, the Yankees are once again chasing another championship, and...yes, there's another mutual fund conference to attend.

FlexShares, the exchange-traded funds arm of Northern Trust Corp., launched its first actively managed ETF, the FlexShares Ready Access Variable Income Fund (RAVI), a money market ETF that will invest in global short-duration, investment-grade fixed-income products, including U.S. Treasuries.

Since the onset of the financial crisis in 2007, the convergence between traditional and alternative products has been widely discussed, with ramifications expected to affect the industry in a significant fashion.

'Tis the season when the leaves change, the National Football League is kicking its season into second gear, the Yankees are once again chasing another championship, and...yes, there's another mutual fund conference to attend.

Curian, Putnam Investments and the John Hancock Funds have won top honors in the 10th Annual NOVA Awards, which honor outstanding leadership and achievement in mutual fund operations and marketing.

ClearBridge Advisors the largest manager of equity funds at parent company Legg Mason, apparently wants to cut the apron strings, announcing it would drop the “Legg Mason” name from all its U.S. funds over the next few months.

Asset managers spend more than 80 percent of their technology dollars simply maintaining existing operations. With regulatory changes and trading spanning more types of assets, “the buy side has a situation of underinvestment which is unsustainable,’’ research firm Celent said.

Bruce Bent Sr. took the stand Thursday afternoon in a New York City courtroom, defending his actions during the 2008 financial crisis as his $62 billion Reserve Primary Fund—the world’s first money market mutual fund—imploded after making an unfortunate bet on the debt of Lehman Brothers Holdings, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Lord, Abbett & Co. has added nine new partners to its executive team.