Mutual funds

The biggest mutual funds in the nation have lost more than an estimated $4 billion in the past week alone on their investments in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and related mortgage stocks, Reuters reports, based on analysts’ assessment of fund companies’ latest reports. In the past week, Fannie and Freddie declined 45.4% and 46.5%, respectively.

The small group of money mangers who possessed the ability to outperform the market has virtually disappeared, according to a new study.

Firms that focus on value stocks have been slammed recently, as financial stocks like Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae continue to struggle, reports The Wall Street Journal.

Financial experts seem to be in agreement that we are now in a bear market, but will that bad news shake investors’ traditional buy-and-hold strategy with 401(k)s – particularly older investors?

Following the rash of home equity loans that Americans regretfully took out over the past few years on their first or second mortgages – essentially turning their homes into ATM machines, as many a critic has quipped – their 401(k)s are now in danger of becoming the next get-cash-quick scheme, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Subprime Debt Too Hot to Handle for Ratings Agencies

For professionals on Wall Street, the June jobs number confirmed what many already knew: The financial services segment of the U.S. economy lost jobs last month. Some observers say the pace of jobs lost on Wall Street could exceed all other previous downturns faced by banks and brokerages since World War II.

Petrozzo, DePoalo New CIOs at Fidelity

How serious are liquidity problems with money market mutual funds?

Get a little imagination, guys.

The ongoing credit crisis saga has taken a tremendous toll on hedge funds due to their exposure to structured mortgage-backed assets-and for those heading or parsing trades overseas to avoid U.S. taxes: Beware.

Mutual fund investors held resilient in the second quarter of the year, "shrugging off weakness in the labor and housing markets and even ignoring the rising cost of oil and gas," announced Tom Roseen, senior research analyst for Lipper, during the firm's press conference last Tuesday on the quarter's results.

The growing popularity of fee-based advice is prompting mutual fund companies and other investment platform providers to upgrade the capabilities they offer advisers at banks and elsewhere.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke called for a stronger central bank last week, and outlined a proposal that would provide the Fed with more regulatory control over large New York-based financial companies that are not associated with commercial banks, like Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Lehman Brothers.

According to a study released by the Investment Company Institute, mutual funds voted overwhelmingly in support for management proposals in 2007, yet a mere 38% of shareholder proposals were backed.

Gerald Tsai, Jr., a legendary financial whiz and performance funds pioneer, died at the age of 79 last Wednesday. In the 1950s and 1960s, Tsai turned a canning company into Primerica, which later became the foundation of Citigroup.

Before Dennis Ferro retires as chief executive officer at Evergreen Investments, Wachovia Corp.'s investment management arm, he says that he wants to expand its alternative investment capabilities and its international distribution.

The Asian Development Bank has launched a new environmentally based mutual fund.The Future Carbon Fund is tied to environmental initiatives from the Kyoto Protocol, which is set to expire at the end of 2012.

Ameriprise Financial finalized a $440 million deal to purchase J&W Seligman in the fourth quarter. The addition of Seligman will provide Ameriprise with addition outlets to sell its mutual funds and further improve its hedge fund business.

Earlier this week, John Templeton sadly passed away at the age of 95. Templeton created the Templeton Growth Fund back in 1954, but many articles about his passing avoided this subject when they summarized his life.