Mutual funds

Private equity firm Warburg Pincus has acquired a majority stake in The Mutual Fund Store as well as a minority stake in Summit Partners, which invested in The Mutual Fund Store in 2006.

Columbia Management has launched the Columbia Flexible Capital Income Fund, which seeks to provide income generation and capital appreciation.

Janus has launched the Janus Asia Equity Fund, which aims to deliver long-term growth by investing in both developed and emerging markets in Asia, ex-Japan.

No one wants the kind of panic that nearly ensued when the Reserve Primary Fund broke the buck on Sept. 15, 2008. In the three days following, there was a near-run on money market funds, with $169 billion in redemptions.

For the past 18 years, it's been almost an article of faith that an exchange-traded fund would be the epitome of a passive investment.

Unique products may bring higher costs that outweigh advantages.

Federated Investors has absorbed $100.6 million in assets from the Tributary International Equity Fund and merged them into the Federated International Leaders Fund, a fund will a similar mandate and that invests in high-quality foreign companies that appear to be undervalued.

Vanguard Group is extending its Admiral low-cost shares to six additional domestic equity index funds, effective September. The new fees will range from 10 basis points to 21 basis points.

As money market funds hold approximately $1.3 trillion in U.S. Treasuries, nearly half of their total $2.7 trillion in assets, investors would probably be spooked in the event of a default by the U.S. government and rush to the exits to redeem their shares. That is the dire warning from Fitch Ratings.

Aston Asset Management has launched the Aston/DoubleLine Core Plus Fixed Income Fund. Aston will serve as the investment advisor to the fund and DoubleLine Capital, which specializes in core fixed income, mortgage-backed securities, global developed credit, emerging markets debt and global asset allocation, will act as sub-advisor.

AQR Capital Management has launched the AQR Multi-Strategy Alternative Fund, a no-load mutual fund that seeks to deliver absolute returns by investing in a broadly diversified portfolio of alternative strategies traditionally only available through hedge funds.

Charles Schwab is a bit late to the party with its new U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF -- but the company may use its brokerage platform to help even the playing field.

For years, PIMCO’s taxable bond Total Return Fund (PTTRX) has been a top-performer in its class, with five-star ratings from both Morningstar and S&P, five-year annualized trailing returns of 8.9%, and a manager, William Gross, widely respected as among one of the top in industry.

Van Eck Global has launched the Market Vectors CEF Municipal Income ETF (ticker: XMPT), which it says is the first exchange-traded fund to focus on closed-end municipal bond funds.

IndexIQ, the Rye Brook, N.Y., developer of index-based commodity and liquid alternative investment products, this week unveiled a new exchange-traded fund designed for investors looking for even more exposure to emerging markets.

Munder Capital Management has launched the Munder Integrity Mid-Cap Value Fund and the Munder Integrity Small/Mid-Cap Value Fund, both of which are sub-advised by subsidiary Integrity Asset Management, a value specialist that Munder acquired earlier this year.

Altegris Advisors has launched the Altegris Macro Strategy Fund, which it is characterizing as the “ultimate go-anywhere fund.”

Van Hulzen Asset Management and Witter Partners have launched the Iron Horse Fund, a mutual fund that invests in dividend-paying stocks and uses call options to reduce volatility and create incremental income. Van Hulzen is the fund’s advisor and Witter is its distributor and marketer.

American Beacon Advisors has launched the American Beacon Flexible Bond Fund, which seeks to deliver positive returns no matter what the market direction by investing in a broad range of fixed income instruments.

After a strong start in the first four months of 2011, exchange-traded funds and mutual funds both saw cash flow out of products that invest long-term in stocks at the end of the second quarter.