Mutual funds

At the end of last year’s fourth quarter, the average 401(k) balance was up almost 8% from the prior quarter, to $69,100. Fidelity Investments president of workplace investing, James M. MacDonald, called these results “encouraging.”

A recent MFS Investment Management survey reveals that the past few years of economic uncertainty continue to take their toll on younger investors’ confidence in their retirement plans.

Credit Suisse said its Wealth Management clients contributed net new assets of $4.4 billion in the fourth quarter, even as its investment banking business took a steep plunge that led to a loss for the company as a whole.

Trading is tough. Managing the results is tougher. Who wants to be bothered with administration? Here’s what to do if you want to outsource that.

These products set a new global monthly record of $9.1 billion of inflows in January 2012, soundly besting the previous record of $6.7 billion of inflows set in January 2009, according to BlackRock.

U.S. equity funds took a beating the week ended Wednesday, February 1, losing an estimated $1.8 billion in investor flows, according to statistics released today by the Investment Company Institute.

Fidelity Investments has warned regulators that more than half of its money-fund clients would move some or all of their assets out of the investments if the net asset value of the funds were allowed to fluctuate.

With a projected valuation of as much as $100 billion, Facebook’s imminent IPO may portend great things for social media. But many planners feel less bullish about its prospects for delivering investment returns.

Participants in employer-sponsored retirement plans are hungry for investment guidance and willing to use automatic enrollment features to achieve their goals, according to results of a survey of changing attitudes toward retirement readiness by State Street Global Advisors.

Alternative assets. Alternative styles. Absolute return.Those are the three bases of John Hancock Mutual Funds newly launched effort to set itself apart as, in itself, an alternative to larger mutual fund creators, marketers and managers.

Hatteras Funds CEO Brian Jacobs predicts there will be an increasing convergence between the mutual fund and hedge fund worlds as more companies seek to offer hedge fund strategies to mass-market investors.

BATS Global Markets said the Securities and Exchange Commission approved its Competitive Liquidity Provider program, proposed last year.

Petrone Expands Kasina's Research Effort; Great-West Names Killgore Regional Sales Director; Neuberger Appoints Saltzman Wealth Advisor; Jones Joins CLS in Regional VP of Sales Role

Hatteras Funds CEO Brian Jacobs predicts there will be an increasing convergence between the mutual fund and hedge fund worlds as more companies seek to offer hedge fund strategies to mass-market investors.

Vanguard has launched a new target retirement fund for Generation Y investors that will lay the foundation broad diversification among the major asset classes and low costs--and start them on the road to successful investing.

Retirement Projected to Hit $22 Trillion by 2016; Fund Uses Student Research; Gets Morningstar Five Stars; Deutsche Boerse: It's a Black Day for Europe

The performance benchmark for stocks in developing countries, the MSCI Emerging Market Index, has grown at almost 21% annually over the past three years.

Morningstar research finds that 50 mutual funds have stakes in either the A class or B class of Facebook. Among the largest holders are T. Rowe Price, Fidelity Investments and Morgan Stanley. Morgan Stanley also is the lead underwriter in the offering, which is expected to raise at least $5 billion and possibly as much as $10 billion.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch said that it saw increased 401(k) savings through its plan sponsors both in the fourth quarter and 2011 year, signaling a positive outlook for the tweaks it has made to its offerings and confidence in the overall economy.

FINRA arbitration panel has ordered Merrill Lynch to pay an investor $1.4 million in a case that called into question the value of the collateralized loan obligation investments the firm sold.