Mutual funds

John Hancock Retirement Plan Services has formed a distribution partnership with Edward Jones that makes Hancock’s 401(k) platform, complete with the Guaranteed Income For Life feature, available to the brokerage’s 12,000 financial advisers.

More than 100 investors with money trapped in the Reserve Yield Plus Fund have asked the Securities and Exchange Commission to reserve the permission it gave to Reserve Funds to delay redemption requests in order to liquidate holdings in an orderly market, The Wall Street Journal reports. The investors have been waiting for their remaining $175 million for the past year. The fund once held $1.2 billion.

Technology exchange-traded funds were some of the biggest sellers during the dot-com mania of 10 years ago, even as they loaded up on Internet companies without profits.

Exchange-traded funds continued to take in money in August, but inflows slowed to $5.5 billion, down from $13.5 billion the month before.

Wirehouses are projected to lose $188 billion in client assets this year due to adviser migration, according to a new report from Cerulli Associates. And those losses are expected to continue over the longer term as well.

With the collapse of Lehman Brothers a year in the past and the economy on the road to recovery, many participants in the financial services industry are questioning whether the industry still needs to undergo substantial regulatory change, and what changes, if any, could be beneficial at this point.

President Obama outlined a series of initiatives the federal government would take to help people boost their retirement savings, including allowing them to direct tax refunds, pay raises and unused vacation pay to their nest eggs.

Advisers Favor Tactical Allocation Over Traditional Equity Exposure

In the eight months since their launch in January, Putnam Investments' new family of absolute-return mutual funds has attracted more than $400 million in new investments and, according to the firm, is on track to top $1 billion by the end of the year.

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Mutual fund advocates are rallying together in preparation for a key Supreme Court battle this fall that could drastically change the way fund companies structure their fees.

Standard & Poor's Equity Research Services has upgraded its open-end mutual fund research product for financial advisors and clients.

Total assets in money market mutual funds fell by $15.3 billion to $3.543 trillion during the week ending Sept. 9, largely driven by institutional accounts, the Investment Company Institute said.

These firms topped the list of the best variable-annuity websites for advisors in a new survey by kasina.

Long-term mutual funds enjoyed $8.45 billion of inflows in the week ended Sept. 2, the Investment Company Institute said. It was the 25th straight week of inflows, bringing the total net sales to $259 billion.

Fifty-five percent of investors believe the economy will improve within the next 12 months, Scottrade found in a survey 1,143 investors in late July. Another 79% said they think the stock market is resilient and will provide long-term investment gains. In addition, 51% believe they will recoup their investments losses within the next three years.

On the eve of “401(k) Day,” Sept. 11, themed “Make Wise Choices” this year, the Profit Sharing/401(k) Council issued a statement praising the 401(k) as “an island of stability during the current economic crisis.”

JPMorgan Chase has launched the prime custody solutions group, a prime brokerage service aimed at both mutual funds and hedge funds. Mutual funds will have services for short selling and financing, and hedge funds will get custodial services and insulation for long-only positions.

The Treasury Department is unlikely to extend the temporary money market fund insurance program that is set to expire Sept. 18, due to proposed regulations. Virtually all money funds initially participated in the program after it was first offered a year ago by paying a premium, but as markets stabilized, funds that invest in U.S. government securities bowed out.

The asset management group of the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association said it opposes a floating net asset value for money market funds but otherwise supports the Securities and Exchange Commission’s proposed enhancements to the funds, echoing the sentiments of the Investment Company Institute.