Mutual funds

Wells Fargo, advisor to the Evergreen funds, is renaming the funds Wells Fargo Advantage Funds and merging and reorganizing many of the portflios. The end result will be a family of 128 mutual funds, variable trust funds and managed account shares, down from 177.

The raging bull market of the last 12 months will continue throughout 2010 but at a slower, steadier pace, giving investors reason to draw back slightly on risk, according to BlackRock’s Bob Doll, the vice chairman and global chief investment officer of fundamental equities and Curtis Arledge, managing director and co-head of U.S. fixed income portfolio management group, in their forecast for the first quarter.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has appointed five individuals to specialize in various areas of investigation and has also created an Office of Market Intelligence to compile the hundreds of thousands of tips, complaints and referrals that the SEC receives each year.

ETF Securities has launched two exchange-traded funds that are the first to be physically backed by platinum and palladium. The company already offers ETFs backed by gold and silver.

Grail Advisors, a provider of actively managed exchange-traded funds, has recruited Gary Black, the former chief executive officer of Janus, to serve as a director on its advisory board.

Institutional investors remain optimistic that the global economy and the interest rate-ridden housing market will help create “stability” and growth in the New Year, a Northern Trust Global Advisors (NTGA) survey found.

Basing the awards on superior risk-adjusted results and shareholder stewardship, Morningstar has named its Fund Managers of the Decade, bestowing the honors on PIMCO’s Bill Gross, Fairholme’s Bruce Berkowitz and Oakmark’s David Herro, respectively, for fixed income, domestic equity and international equity.

Sponsors of 401(k) plans are determined to get their plans back on track in 2010 to avoid future market pitfalls, starting by taking a hard look at investment offerings and fees, Callan Associates found in its 2010 Defined Contribution Trends Survey.

Societe Generale’s U.S. savings and investment retirement plan has selected Putnam Investments to manage its $220 million defined contribution plan.

FundQuest has selected Managed Portfolio Advisors as the overlay manager for its customizable unified managed account program.

Fidelity Investments’ venture capital unit has broken off from the fund giant to form an independent firm called Volition Capital. It will continue to manage its previous portfolio of 20 U.S. companies. Going forward, it will invest primarily in high-potential, founder-owned technology companies.

Investors contributed $1.1 billion to the Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund in 2009, a 4.7% increase from the $1.05 billion they gave in 2008.

Renowned economist and author Nouriel Roubini said little to cheer advisors at today’s Investment Management Consultants Association conference in New York, predicting an anemic U-shaped economic recovery in the U.S.

Independent firms will help shape the mergers and acquisitions scene in the asset management industry in 2010, according to investment bank Jefferies & Co.

The 51-year-old man who shot and killed three people, injured another five and then committed suicide in St. Louis last Thursday at an ABB Power manufacturing plant where he had worked was one of the plaintiffs in a lawsuit against ABB and Fidelity over 401(k) fees.

Janus Selects Weil as CEO

BRIC Funds Top Performers of 2009

Despite an overwhelming consensus among the scientific community that human activity is causing climate change, most of the world's largest investment managers do not factor climate-related trends into their short- and long-term investment decision making, a new study finds.

Vanguard was able to stand out in 2009 despite -- or perhaps because of -- a difficult market environment.

NEW YORK -- U.S. and international regulators are widely credited with having saved the global economy from plummeting into a second Great Depression, and the fragile, recovering economy can expect to see continued support for much of 2010, experts say.