Mutual funds

On July 27, 2012, FocusShares, a unit of online discount trading firm Scottrade, has severed ties with its PR firm, MWW Group.

A former AllianceBernstein investment guru is taking a stab at public service.

Joe Barrato is chief executive officer of Arrow Investment Advisors, a developer and distributor of mutual funds that are built around "targeted" levels of risk.

Perhaps it was only a matter of time before Morningstar decided to put its stamp of approval, and disapproval, on alternative mutual funds.

Estee lauder’s chief executive officer, Fabrizio Freda, is giving BlackRock, Inc.’s Board of Directors a makeover. Well, sort of.

It seems that the folks at Spectrum Advisory Services Inc., manager of the Marathon Value Portfolio mutual fund (NASDAQ: MVPFX) were victims of malicious hackers who hacked into the third-party host server of the Fund’s website on June 30.

On July 27, 2012, Investors pumped in $6.3 billion into mutual funds and exchange-traded funds for the week ended July 25, according to data from Lipper.

Target-date funds pulled in $13.9 billion in the second quarter despite the nearly 3% loss on average, according to Morningstar.

On July 26, 2012, Target-date funds pulled in $13.9 billion in the second quarter despite the nearly 3% loss on average, according to Morningstar.

Los Angeles-based del Rey Global Investors, LLC, has expanded its sales and marketing groups with the addition of Dean C. Phillips as vice president, National Sales and Marketing, and Dennis McCarthy, vice president, Institutional Sales.

On July 26, 2012, BlackRock Inc., Fidelity Investments and Vanguard Group Inc., firms that collectively manage more than $7 trillion, are gauging how their clients have been hurt by Libor manipulation and whether to take legal action as at least a dozen banks are being investigated for rate-rigging.

Scottsdale, AZ-based Longboard Asset Management has launched the Longboard Managed Futures Strategy Fund (WAVIX), a trend following offering.

The $99 million inflow reported by the Investment Company Institute for the week ended July 18 does not erase the $11.8 billion pulled out of such funds in the prior six weeks.

United Technologies Companylast month took the plunge into providing its employees a steady stream of retirement income.

It was only $99 million, in the week ended July 18, 2012.

Attention fund builders: There’s still time to shine a light on the smartest and most effective mutual fund executives, back office innovators and marketing gurus you know.

On July 25, 2012, Columbus, OH-based Huntington Asset Advisors, Inc. has launched a second actively managed exchange-traded fund, US Equity Rotation Strategy ETF, via its new ETF family, Huntington Strategy Shares. The Huntington EcoLogical Strategy ETF (NYSE Arca: HECO) made its debut last month.

On July 25, 2012, Old Mutual Asset Management, the U.S.-based global asset management business of Old Mutual plc, has named John Harrington as Director of U.S. Consultant Relations, responsible for business development in the consultant channel.

On July 25, 2012, Vanguard has filed a registration statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to launch the Vanguard Short-Term Inflation-Protected Securities Index Fund in Q4.

On July 25, 2012, Three days in August 2007 will live forever in algorithmic investing infamy. Numerous quantitatively driven stock funds leapt en masse off a cliff-just like lemmings.