Mutual funds

Prudential Arm Hires Structured Exec Bonesteel

NEW YORK - The fragmented, free-for-all liquidity in the marketplace is aggravating the extreme volatility in the stock market, and experts say a more organized, specialized system is needed.

With the stock market down 40% in the past year, many investors are reassessing their investments. Many, in fact, are bailing out of equity mutual funds, vowing never to return.

4,000 Could Lose Jobs at Fidelity

LAS VEGAS - As companies pare back their operational budgets and look for ways to trim costs, chief information officers are being challenged to make their IT departments do far more with much less.

The question everyone is asking, not just shell-shocked investors, but financial advisers and economists as well, is how low can the Dow Jones Industrial Average go? And the answer is, very, very low. Some pessimists are now predicting the Dow 900.

The Reserve Management Company has begun making distributions to shareholders at an initial rate of 50 cents on the dollar, and its president says the company plans to pay the rest soon.

Adviser confidence in the economy and stock market sank this month for the second consecutive month, according to Rydex AdvisorBenchmarking Inc., a Rockville, Md., unit of Rydex Investments.

Many large corporations and asset managers in Massachusetts are planning to cut jobs, and by the best estimates, the state could lose jobs for 4%, or 7,200, of its financial servcies workforce by the end of next year, slightly higher than an estimated 3% decrease in the rest of the nation, The Boston Globe reports.

Adviser confidence in the economy and stock market sank this month for the second consecutive month, according to Rydex AdvisorBenchmarking, a division of Rydex Investments.

Investors’ list of financial concerns is growing longer. Added to the fear of not having enough money in retirement or being able to pay for their children’s college are concerns about healthcare and declining values in their savings and homes.

Asset management firms are increasing their sales and marketing budgets for the defined contribution investment only marketplace by 28% this year, according to a report from Sway Research called “Best Practices in DCIO Sales and Marketing.”

E-mails, letters and website messages from mutual fund companies to nervous investors are heavily on the rise, Rocky Mountain News reports. Across the baord, the message is: don’t quit the markets, for in the long term, the markets won’t quit you.

The Shareholder Communications Coalition has formed a new website, shareholdercolation.com, to educate the general public and policymakers in Washington about challenges to the proxy voting system.

PIMCO has launched the Global Multi-Asset Fund, a mutual fund that will provide broad diversification across risk exposures and asset classes. Co-Chief Investment Officer Mohamed A. El-Erian will lead the team that runs the fund. Other key executives on the team include Vineer Bhansali, a managing director and head of the portfolio management analytics group, and Chris Mewbourne, a managing director and generalist portfolio manager.

Nearly half of the senior citizens eligible for Social Security payments that begin at age 62 plan to begin drawing down those assets immediately, rather than waiting prudently for the higher payments that top off at age 66 for those born between 1943 and 1954, according to a survey of 600 Americans between the ages of 55 and 69 that Fidelity Investments sponsored.

Fidelity Investments might lay off as many as 9%, or 4,000, of its 44,500 global workforce by early next year, according to reports. That would be a considerable cut, on top of 1,000 who have been laid off in the past year through three rounds.

MFS Investment Management has formed a defined contribution investment only (DCIO) business development office, to be headed by Matt Gannon, who now assumes the title of senior vice president and director of DCIO and strategic alliances.

While leading banks, mortgage originators and brokers, insurers and investment banks have all taken serious hits from the financial crisis, investment management firms—most notably mutual fund companies—have been holding strong, buoyed by a steady stream of fees.

Banks and other financial companies that are willing to stomach a few more quarters of volatility could find themselves well positioned to acquire wealth management companies or talent, according to analysts and industry executives.