Mutual funds

1774-Adriaan van Ketwih creates investment trust for investors limited capital in Netherlands called Eendragt Maakt Magt ("unity creates strength.")

Investigation might redefine insider trading.

Cutler Capital Management has launched the Cutler Absolute Return Fund, which aims to provide institutional investors with positive returns, regardless of the market direction.

As it readies for a massive pruning of its mutual fund family, Columbia Management Investment Advisers is promising a stronger, more affordable lineup.

Absolute-return funds may only comprise $140 billion, a scant 1.2% of the $11.26 trillion in mutual funds, but that will grow to 10% to 15% over the next decade, predicts Putnam Investments President and Chief Executive Officer Robert Reynolds.

Skittish investors withdrew a stunning $3.107 billion from municipal bond mutual funds in the week ending Nov. 17 — the single worst week of outflows and the largest departure of cash in 10 years, according to weekly fund flow data from Lipper FMI.

Many active fund managers get paid to predict where the market is headed—and to get there a step or two ahead of their rivals.But the management of Allianz Global Investors’ Global Investment Solutions Conservative Allocation mutual fund has shunned that approach, and in doing so achieved remarkable success.

Despite the growing argument that buy-and-hold investing and diversification no longer make sense, Burton Malkiel, Princeton economics professor and author of “A Random Walk Down Wall Street,” writes in a Wall Street Journal op-ed Thursday that is absolutely not true.

Mark Notkin, portfolio manager of the $12.8 billion Fidelity Capital & Income Fund, the best-performing high-yield fund in the past five years, says the rally in junk bonds is over. His fund has delivered an average of 9.9% a year and is up 14% this year.

The SEC will vote on raising the threshold for registration from $25 million to $100 million.

According to a survey of advisors, the answer is yes, but in other asset classes, there is no clear-cut leader.

Build America Bonds have entered a world of their own.

Dan Martino, manager of the T. Rowe Price Media and Telecommunications Fund, has two big advantages over competing fund managers.

Grail Partners’ chairman likens the future role of ETFs to the advent of personal computers.

A couple of interesting surveys were released this week—and when mixed with some anecdotal evidence, they offer advisors some food for thought.

Kip Meadows, the CEO of Nottingham Investment Administration, talks about some of the trends expected for the fund industry.

Investors are displaying renewed faith in mutual funds, Strategic Insight says.

New money flowing into foreign equity funds offsets withdrawals from those that invest in U.S. stocks.

According to Janus, the ending point of glidepath is just one of several mysteries surrounding target-date funds.

As markets continue to be volatile, Putnam believes investors will be more focused on reducing risk and earning returns that beat inflation.