Mutual funds

Fidelity Investments has promoted Jacques Perold from chief operating officer of its asset management unit to chief of the $1.4 trillion division. Meanwhile, Michael Wilens, the former head, has moved over to the retirement unit as head of client management, reporting to Abigail Johnson, head.

Increasingly positive media coverage of consumer spending boosted the Dow Jones Economic Sentiment Indicator to 38.3 in November, up 1.4 points from a reading of 36.9 in October.

Forty percent of employers surveyed by the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans said they believe the worst of the economic crisis is over. Twenty-seven percent said they did not think we are out of the woods, and 33% were neutral.

Putnam Investments is counting on its client servicing capabilities to help transform its defined contribution business into an industry leader, according to the head of that business.

Citing modest improvement in the economy and shipping volumes, Federal Express will resume its matches to employees’ 401(k) plans and resume merit pay increases up to 2%, starting Jan. 1.

U.S. District Court Judge Paul Gardephe ordered Reserve Funds to repay the remaining $3.5 billion remaining in the Primary Fund, minus the $83.5 million the company is setting aside for legal expenses, to investors. The money will be paid on a pro rata basis.

Wirehouse advisors are increasingly shunning separate account programs in which securities are directly held in favor of other types of managed accounts that use mutual funds, exchange-traded funds, annuities or other professionally managed securities because they find the latter gives them more flexibility to control their clients' assets, according to a new report from Cerulli Associates.

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NEW YORK - Investors and money managers looking to diversify their portfolios by getting into commodities and commodity exchange-traded funds should keep in mind the volatile nature of these products, as well as the wide range of possible risks, experts say.

Two college-savings companies are borrowing a page from the consumer cash-back loyalty playbook, offering customers rebates on services including refinancing mortgages or opening online bank accounts. Futuretrust, a unit of Destination Maternity Corp., and Upromise Investments have partnered with a series of other financial services companies to offer rebates that can be swept into section 529 college-savings plans.

The financial services industry has been pulling in solid profits lately, but experts say firms should be mindful about how they dole out year-end bonuses and to keep the focus on rewarding long-term performance.

Thirty-eight percent of senior mangers around the world believe the economic crisis will end by the second quarter of next year, Atradius found in a survey of 3,500 executives in North America, Europe, Asia and Australia.

The use of wiretaps and recordings of conversations to help underpin the insider trading case against the Galleon Group hedge fund struck legal experts as unusual, for an investigation involving the Securities and Exchange Commission.

GAMCO reported that its profits in the third quarter rose 23% to $14.7 million, or 53 cents per fully diluted share, compared to $12 million, or 43 cents per share, a year ago. On a sequential basis, assets under management increased 14.5% from the previous quarter to $24.5 billion.

A Boston federal jury ruled in favor of the Securities and Exchange Commission in a case against a former Fidelity Investments trader accused of sharing inside information on Covad Communications with his mother, tipping her off when the fund giant was about to make a large purchase of the stock.

While retail investors have largely sat out the broad market rally that started in March, continuing sound economic indicators and resilient stocks should entice them back in, The Globe and Mail reports.

Fueled by a 26% increase in assets under management to $154.9 billion, Eaton Vance announced that its fiscal fourth quarter profits rose 39% to $48.4 million, or 39 cents a share, up from $34.9 million, or 28 cents a share, from a year ago. Revenue increased 2% to $254 million, beating analyst forecasts of $250 million.

Attracted by exchange-traded funds’ transparency, liquidity and low fees, more institutional investors turned to these instruments during the crisis, Barclays Global Investors said in a report based on Thomson Reuters data.

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