Mutual funds

Mutual funds took in net sales for the 40th week in a row, bringing the sales streak to a full 10 months totaling $400 billion, according to the Investment Company Institute.

Besides being one of the most famous and successful fund managers in the history of the mutual fund business, Bill Gross reached another historic milestone on Dec. 17, when the PIMCO Total Return Fund he runs topped $202.5 billion in assets—making it the biggest mutual fund ever.

Fidelity Investments has expanded the investment options on its Advisors 401(k) platform, in an effort to help its advisors boost their share of the advisor-sold market.

Carnegie Investment Bank AB, a Stockholm-based independent financial institution, has decided to let go of its asset management business and transfer ownership to investment companies Altor Equity Partners and Bure.

The Securities and Exchange Commission filed securities fraud charges against an Austin, Texas investment advisor and two of his businesses alleging he conducted a “multi-million dollar scam” that used former professional football players to promote its offerings.

The Vanguard Group said it plans to introduce its first actively managed equity fund in five years, the Valley Forge, Pa., company announced Monday.

In an effort to alleviate investor anxiety, fixed-income guru Bill Gross has taken over daily responsibility of four of Pacific Investment Management Co.’s close-end bond funds.

Jay Peroni had been a financial advisor for over seven years when a client asked him a question he could not answer: “Can I expect God to bless my investments if I’m investing in things that oppose his word?”

New York-based American International Group Inc. scored a victory in California Superior Court after a judge dismissed a lawsuit filed by a financial planner.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is adjusting fees for some transactions as part of its requirement to keep collections stable.

Total assets of money market mutual funds continued their fall with a drop of $51.13 billion in the latest week to $3.269 trillion, according to the Investment Company Institute.

A growing number of employers are planning to incorporate annuities into their 401(k) plans as companies look for ways to provide workers with steady benefits in retirement, according to a survey by Watson Wyatt.

Regulators have agreed to delay plans to treat equity-indexed annuities like securities, but many bank-affiliated brokerages are already doing so.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has adopted rules that substantially increase protections for investors who turn their assets over to investment advisers, which hopefully will prevent another massive, Madoff-like Ponzi scheme.

State Street Global Advisors launched a short-term corporate bond exchange-traded fund.

Investors faced whopping losses as a result of the economic recession and the deep scars left by the financial insecurity of the past 18 months had most individuals investing in relatively safe bonds in 2009.

Putnam Investments announced Wednesday that its suite of target Absolute Return Funds has surpassed $1 billion in assets, less than a year after they were launched.

Many target-date retirement funds are still heavily invested in risky, high-yield junk bonds in order to give investors the yields they promise, Bloomberg reports.

The SPARK Institute has released draft guidelines that help 403(b) retirement plans comply with new regulations, including Form 5500.

ING Group announced Wednesday it hired Lynne Ford as chief executive officer of ING Financial Solutions, the company's transformed annuity and rollover business.