Mutual funds

Investors continued to gradually move out of the safety of money market funds and into the equity markets, as total assets of money market mutual funds dropped $16.33 billion to $3.747 trillion for the week ending June 10, according to the Investment Company Institute.

State Street Corp. and Vanguard Group are reeling at the annoucement of BlackRock Global Investors, the $13.5 billion merger between BlackRock and Barclays's asset management arm.

Equity funds took in inflows for the 12th straight week, netting $4.63 billion in the week ended June 3, the Investment Company Institute said. In the previous week, they netted $1.59 billion.

ALPS Fund Services is planning to offer five commodity equity exchange-traded funds. They are: Agricultural Producers ETF, Energy Producers ETF, Industrial Metals Products ETF, Precious Metals Products ETF and Commodity Producers Composite ETF.

Mutual fund managers are moving back into the stock market, finally putting cash they have been holding onto for more than a year back to work, MarketWatch reports.

Even though their financial health may have been seriously impaired by the economic downturn, most couples are not in agreement when it comes to their retirement plans, Fidelity found in a survey of 502 married couples between the ages of 45 and 72. To qualify, they had to have household income of at least $75,000 and investable assets of $100,000 or more.

Affluent investors' confidence increased in May for the third consecutive month, according to a survey by Spectrem Group.

BlackRock is reportedly the lead bidder for Barclays’ fund unit, and could pay more than $12 billion for the company, which has $1.5 trillion under management. BlackRock manages $2.81 trillion.

Grail Advisors is planning to offer four actively managed exchange-traded funds that will the first to use a single-manager approach.

IndexIQ has introduced an exchange-traded fund that will seek to replicate global macro and emerging markets hedge fund strategies.

The White House’s earlier plan to merge many of the regulators overseeing the financial services industry is likely to be scrapped, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Wells Fargo, parent of the Evergreen mutual funds, has agreed to pay $40 million to the Securities and Exchange Commission to settle charges it inflated the value of mortgage-backed securities held by one of its mutual funds, the Ultra Short Opportunities Fund.

As part of an increasing trend among mutual fund companies to diversify their offerings into new areas, Putnam Investments is planning to offer hedge funds in the next six to 12 months, according to the firm’s chief executive officer, Robert L. Reynolds.

Citing the positive effects of diversification and continued contributions, Vanguard announced that the median decline in the three million defined contribution accounts it administers fell 17% in the 15 months ended March 31, as opposed to the market’s overall 44% decline.

Fidelity Investments’ chief of technology and real estate operations, Marvin Adams, will be leaving the company, according to reports.

Finally, insiders launched candid criticism at the mutual fund industry last week, to help it respond sensibly to the economic meltdown and reposition itself to regain investor trust.

Abigail Johnson Chairs Fidelity Fund Board

Conn. Fails to Pass Hedge Fund Bill

Thanks to shady money managers like Bernie Madoff who ruined it for everyone, the lucrative and surreptitious heydays of hedge funds may be gone for good.

From recommending different products to rethinking their risk management strategy, some financial advisers say they have changed their approach in the wake of last year's market slump. Indeed, many retail investors remain on the sidelines of the stock market, with assets in equity funds only half of what they were in late 2007 before the economic crisis began and the market lost 56% of its value.