Mutual funds

While data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission shows that hedge funds’ bets against the U.S. greenback have risen by 36% so far this year, Deseret Morning News reports, mutual funds and other institutional investors are raising their stakes in the dollar.

WASHINGTON - Mutual fund companies and their attendant banking channel need to engage the mass affluent, rather than simply chasing the wealthy, if they seriously want to develop their retirement businesses.

Despite strict guidelines and barriers within China, which tend to turn off global fund houses from conducting business, Fidelity International is ready and willing to pursue joint ventures there sometime in the near future.

Advisers are routinely using non-industry websites, particularly YouTube, and bank online in larger numbers than expected, says a new study tracking e-business habits. The findings have implications for asset managers across the industry.

In what some in the industry are heralding as a backhanded acknowledgement of 12b-1 fees, the Securities and Exchange Commission is considering putting a cap on the controversial level-loads.

Allianz Global Investors Taps Nancy Morris as VP

His firm may sponsor only three small exchange-traded funds right now, but if Sean O'Hara, president of RevenueShares Investor Services of Paoli, Pa., has his druthers, there'll be revenue-weighted ETFs in every investor's portfolio someday. With that in mind, the firm will be offering 10 additional sector ETFs within weeks, with more to come later this year.

Welcome to Money Management Executive's 6th Annual Fund Operations Awards.

This Tuesday, June 3, the Senate Banking Committee will consider three nominations to the Securities and Exchange Commission, possibly paving the way for a number of mutual fund measures to be decided upon.

Many mutual fund industry analysts are skeptical that the Securities and Exchange Commission will take final action on any of its outstanding proposals this year, but if it does, the summary prospectus and XBRL tagging are likely to top the list, with a proposal on changes to 12b-1 fees to follow in 2009.

While not exactly a national victory for the mutual fund industry, a recent court ruling regarding "excessive fees" could set a strong precedent for further disputes.

Money market mutual fund assets fell $4.28 billion for the week ending May 28, to $3.505 trillion, according to the Investment Company Institute. Assets of retail money market mutual funds fell by $3.99 billion to $1.223 trillion.

Harry Lange, a manager of Fidelity Investment’s popular $40.5 billion Magellan fund, believes that once the effects of the central bank’s rate cuts and the government’s economic stimulus packages kick in, U.S. stocks could be near an “important bottom.”

Investors seem to be moving more money to U.S.-based stock mutual funds.

Rumors are floating around that investment-giant Morgan Stanley will enter into its first fund venture in China as early as next month, Reuters reports.

Pax World Management Corp. has formed the Pax World Women’s Advisory Council, comprised of nationally known leaders and experts on women’s issues.

Anthony Bolton, manager of Fidelity Investments’ Special Situations Fund in the U.K. for nearly 30 years—and who has turned out an average annual return of 19.5% in that time—is bearish on financials and mining stocks, The Wall Street Journal’s “Letter From the City” column reports this morning.

While it may not decide the fate of about a dozen similar “excessive fee” cases that were brought against mutual fund companies in 2003 and 2004, charging that they should impose institutional-share, rather than retail-share fees on individual investors, it is an important step in the right direction.

A study by the Genocide Intervention Network, conducted with Bloomberg, has found that companies that invest in countries with poor human rights practices make bad investments, both financially as well as ethically.

Despite strict guidelines and barriers within China, which tend to turn off global fund houses from conducting business, Fidelity International recently announced that it is ready and willing to pursue joint ventures there sometime in the near future.