Mutual funds

Invesco is acquiring the retail asset management business of Morgan Stanley, including Van Kampen, for $1.5 billion in cash and stock. Invesco is paying $500 million in cash and tendering 44.1 million shares representing $1 billion in Invesco equity that will give Morgan Stanley a 9.4% minority stake. Morgan will continue to manage $267 billion in institutional assets.

83% of Fund Managers Expect Earnings To Increase Sharply in Third Quarter

Stunned by trillions of dollars of losses in the financial crisis, Americans will be investing significantly less in the future, according to a new survey by AlixPartners. Forty-nine percent of the 1,000 people the consulting firm surveyed have either stopped or reduced investing in stocks or mutual funds, 26% have no intention to return to these bedrock financial vehicles in the next three years, and another 27% were unsure whether they had the endurance to return to the markets in that timeframe.

Financial advisers generally prefer to manage a small number of high-net-worth clients rather than a large number of small accounts, but recent advances in automation technology could change this dynamic.

Though Bank of New York Mellon Corp.'s wealth management revenue has slumped, the unit's head is touting its resilience and plotting an aggressive strategy through mergers and acquisitions.

Many financial service companies were only able to survive last year's recession by slashing staff and utilizing automated technology solutions to support customers, advisers, salespeople and their remaining workers.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has issued a Wells notice to Charles Schwab informing the company it plans to sue it over two bond funds that held mortgage securities since the company marketed the funds as safe, high-yielding alternatives to money market funds.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has tapped Adam Storch to be the managing executive of the newly created Division of Enforcement.

The investors buying into stocks and sending the Dow up 53% since its March 9 low have continued to be pension plans and hedge funds; retail investors in mutual funds are certainly not driving those sales, the Washington Post reports. Only in the past two weeks have fund companies and financial advisers heard from retail investors curious about re-entering the market.

More than three-quarters, 77%, of 401(k) investors have not made any changes in the past 12 months leading up to April, J.P. Morgan Retirement Plan Services found in a survey titled “Anything But Certain.”

Long-term stock and bond mutual funds took in $11.41 billion in the week ended Oct. 7, marking the 30th straight week of inflows, which now total $316 billion, the Investment Company Institute said.

As many investors have become totally risk-averse following the market crash, UBS Wealth Management has just issued a retirement planning report that proposes segmenting the process into three buckets.

The variable annuity value proposition appears to be eroding, as mutual fund sales outpaced those of annuities during the second quarter, and more of the same is expected through next year.

Although JPMorgan Chase took in $16.8 billion into its stock and bond funds in the first nine months of this year, making it the fourth best-selling fund house.

The third quarter saw a strong comeback period for open-ended mutual funds, and a stellar one for exchange-traded funds, according to Morningstar.

Institutional investors are increasingly optimistic about the markets and the economy, the Bank of America Merrill Lynch found in its October survey of fund managers. In fact, their risk appetite is at the highest point in three years.

Stunned by losses in the financial crisis, Americans will be investing significantly less in the future, according to a new survey by consulting firm AlixPartners.

Vanguard is temporarily closing its top-performing Vanguard Capital Value Fund, a $742 million fund that rose 68.5% year-to-date through the end of September. In that period of time, assets in the fund have more than tripled.

While it’s good news for investors that a majority of mutual fund boards have adopted the best practices advocated by the Investment Company Institute and the Independent Directors Council, some critics believe those suggested practices should be mandatory.

Flows into equity funds have remained flat ever since the market bottomed out on March 9, an indication that investors remain spooked by the market’s sharp decline last year—despite the S&P 500’s year-to-date 59% gain.