Mutual funds

While competitors are roiled by the market turmoil and the market faces lower returns for some time to come, Charles Schwab is proactively cutting fees, lowering investment minimums and offerings popular exchange-traded funds to gain market share, Barron’s reports.

Long-term stock and bond mutual funds netted $8.873 billion in inflows in the week ended July 8, the 17th straight week of inflows, the Investment Company Institute said.

Massachusetts Secretary of State William F. Galvin is investigating the sales materials of fund companies that sell leveraged exchange-traded funds, The Boston Globe reports.

Sixty-four percent of the calls going to Financial Finesse, which provides financial counseling to employees, are about debt reduction and budgeting, whereas only 15% of the calls are about investing and retirement planning.

More investment managers expect corporate earnings to increase in the next three months, and a majority expect global gross domestic product growth to accelerate in the next six months, according to a survey conducted by Northern Trust Global Advisors.

Janus announced Tuesday that its chief executive officer, Gary Black, has resigned, and will be replaced with Tim Armour, a director, as acting CEO.

Automatic enrollment into 401(k) plans is having the greatest impact on younger, lower-income workers, Fidelity Investments reported Tuesday.

Nomura will acquire a 35% stake in LIC Mutual Fund Asset Management Co., a subsidiary of Life Insurance Corporation of India.

ProShares has introduced the nation’s first 130/30 exchange-traded fund, linked to the Credit Suisse 130/30 Large-Cap Index.

Financial advisers have sworn by asset allocation and diversification for years, but in the face of the market’s demise in 2008, some are rethinking that age-old wisdom, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Investors showed strong confidence in long-term mutual funds in the second quarter, boosting sales in bond and stock funds by $136 billion, Strategic Insight reported. It was the strongest quarter for sales since the first quarter of 2007, when long-term mutual funds drew nearly $150 billion.

Mutual funds and other institutional money managers are using seven percent less independent research than last year, Greenwich Associates found. Providers of independent research reported that institutional managers are paying 11% of commissions this year, down from 18% in 2008.

Tocqueville Asset Management will acquire Delafield Asset Management, a provider of mutual funds, separately managed accounts and limited partnerships. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Tritt Promoted to EVP At DST Systems

It could take as long as five years for asset managers around the world to recoup the $10 trillion they lost in 2008, according to a report by Cerulli, which calls the global meltdown "of near-biblical proportions."

Fidelity Investments aims to double its assets under administration in the next five years, and stepped-up sales through banks will be a major contributor, company executives said.

Investors to Continue Seeking Fixed Income, Other Safe Funds

Nearly every asset class saw robust performance in the second quarter, but the initial elation at the lack of terrible news has worn off as investors brace for a tough second half, according to Lipper's review of the second quarter.

While mergers and acquisitions among asset management companies were down significantly during the first half of 2009, many M&A experts predict this decline will flatten out or reverse by the end of the year, driven by renewed faith in the profitability of asset firms and banks' continued need to raise capital.

Despite the best performing returns for mutual funds in the second quarter in the past six years, investors appear unsure that the market is actually turning around because they don’t see sustained strength in the economy or corporate earnings. In fact, some fear the recession could get worse.