Mutual funds

CHICAGO -- Seeking to make it easier for financial planners and investors to analyze the vast mutual fund universe, Morningstar will soon launch forward-looking, analyst-driven fund ratings.

Seeking to make it easier for financial planners and investors to analyze the vast mutual fund universe, Morningstar announced Thursday that it would soon launch forward-looking, analyst-driven fund ratings.

Long-term mutual funds reaped $2.83 billion in inflows in the week ended June 1, the Investment Company Institute said.

Two affiliates of Palmer Square Capital Management have launched new mutual funds. The funds are the Nuance Concentrated Value Fund from Nuance Investments and the Tortoise MLP & Pipeline Fund from Tortoise Capital Advisors.

Putnam Investments has won a sub-advisor mandate for two fixed income funds from Mackenzie Investments with $1.75 billion in assets under management. The two funds are the Mackenzie Sentinel Corporate Bond Fund and Mackenzie Sentinel Registered North American Corporate Bond Fund.

Matthews International Capital Management has launched the Matthews China Small Companies Fund.

Investors should be keenly aware of the major factors that can diminish long-term returns.

Although the unemployment rate in the U.S. is 9%, three-quarters of broker-dealers and registered investment advisors plan to hire in the next 12 months, and they plan to boost their staff by an average of 30%, Fidelity Investments found in a survey.

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Outflows from equity funds totaled $25 million in the week ended May 18, the Investment Company Institute said.

Global X Funds has launched the Global X Canada Preferred ETF, an exchange-traded fund that targets Canadian companies that issue preferred stock. The fund tracks the Solactive Canada Preferred Stock Index.

IndexIQ has launched the IQ Hong Kong Small Cap ETF, which it says it the first exchange-traded fund to focus on the sector. It will track the IQ Hong Kong Small Cap Index.

A new report released this week from the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) claims that some of the largest mutual funds -- including Vanguard and BlackRock -- are guilty of rubber-stamping company-initiated, executive-compensation plans that are often out of whack with their companies' performance and therefore compromising shareholders' best interests in the process.

Global X Funds has launched the Global X Auto ETX (ticker: VROM), which will invest 76% of its portfolio in auto manufacturers and 26% in auto parts and equipment.

Investors redeem $950 million from equity funds.

Unified Managed Accounts skyrocketed over 100% in the last year, and at double the rate of any other segment, but they are still only 6% of the $2 trillion industry.

Reversing a trend of outflows, tax-exempt money market funds raked in $3.33 billion to end the week of May 9 with $309.95 billion in total net assets, according to the Money Fund Report, a service of iMoneyNet.com.

Investors often make the mistake of exposing themselves to too much risk in their portfolios or failing to take on enough risk for their investment timeline. Here are a couple of large-cap funds that might represent a happy and profitable compromise.

Orinda Asset Management has launched the Orinda Multi-Manager Hedged Equity Fund, a fund that seeks long-term capital appreciation with an emphasis on risk-adjusted returns and reduced volatility.

Van Eck Global has launched the Market Vectors LatAm Aggregate Fund ETF, which will track the BofA Merrill Lynch Broad Latin America Bond Index.