Mutual funds

While exchange-traded funds have been one of the biggest-selling mutual fund categories, small, niche products are finding it hard to make a go of it. Of the 129 new exchange-traded funds introduced this year, 37, or 28%, are already closed.

With investors consistently and rather alarmingly rushing to the exits of equity mutual funds ever since the May 6 Flash Crash-shareholders have yanked $72.9 billion out of stock funds-asset managers are aggressively reducing fees at an unprecedented rate.

James Lam & Associates, enterprise risk management

Loomis Sayles has launched the Loomis Sayles Multi-Asset Real Return Fund, which will invest in a variety of asset classes around the world, including derivatives, commodities and REITs, to combat all types of inflationary environments, including: inflation, debtflation, stagflation and deflation.

Latin America and Asia are now an integral part of large funds’ bond and equity strategies.

A closer examination of why (and why not) annuities belong in a 401(k) plan.

UMB Financial Corp. has added a leg to its distribution structure for health savings accounts.

Boston firm brings its institutional strategies to high-net worth individuals.

Equity funds continue to lose assets, with redemptions totaling $1.9 billion in the week ended Sept. 22.

Long-term mutual funds took in an estimated $5.75 billion in the week ended Sept. 22, the Investment Company Institute said Wednesday.

The new rules permit mutual funds to earn income from commodities.

Thirty percent of mutual fund owners are willing to take substantial or above-average risk, ICI reports.

ING Investment Management Americas is launching a globally focused fixed-income fund that is expected to outperform market benchmarks by investing in debt securities for its institutional clients, the firm said Tuesday.

The Basel III bank capital requirements proposed earlier this month threaten to eviscerate the supply of eligible investments for tax-free money market funds — an industry already struggling with a severe supply shortage.

Putnam Investments announced Monday it launched a suite of multi-cap equity funds.

Temenos said late Monday that it will acquire Odyssey Financial Technologies, a supplier of front- and middle-office software for private banking, wealth management and investment management.

The funds, which mark the latest enhancement to the Boston investment manager’s equity products, are designed to provide exposure to the full array of U.S. stocks within the value, core/blend and growth style universes.

Sophis said it established a partnership with a cluster, grid and cloud management software firm, to help investment managers disribute "resource-hungry" calculations such as risk simulations.

Most hedge fund categories saw fund outflows through the first seven months of this year, except corporate action and non-trend funds.

Vanguard Group plans to simplify its Target Retirement Funds and certain other funds-of-funds in an effort to improve the products’ international diversification.