Mutual funds

Global Asset Management of Hamilton, Bermuda is planning to file with the SEC to introduce three new closed-end funds in October that will invest in hedge funds, said David Anderson, managing director of Global Asset Management.

State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company of Bloomington, Minn. has filed with the SEC to offer ten mutual funds to the public.

Two of the first exchange-traded funds based on pan-European indices were launched last week by Barclays Global Investors of San Francisco, said Kerry Steele, a company spokesperson.

Fidelity Investments of Boston plans to add an open-end floating-rate bank loan fund to its Fidelity Advisor Series II family of funds, according to an SEC filing.

Water Island Capital of New York has filed a registration statement with the SEC to offer the Arbitrage Funds. The funds will invest at least 65 percent of their assets in companies involved in mergers or acquisitions.

The New York Stock Exchange will begin listing exchange-traded funds in the fall, said Richard Grasso, CEO of the New York Stock Exchange. The majority of exchange-traded funds are currently listed on the American Stock Exchange.

The Fortune Group has licensed State Street Global Advisors of Boston to manage two exchange-traded funds based on the Fortune 500 and Fortune e-50 stock indexes. SSGA filed a registration statement with the SEC last week for both of the exchange-traded funds, the Fortune 500 Index Tracking Stock and the Fortune e-50 Index Tracking Stock, according to Fortune.

If funds want to offer exchange-traded funds, they might be wise to follow SSB Citi Asset Management Group of New York and Whatifi.com of San Francisco and start by launching traditional index funds, according to some industry analysts.

Exchange-traded funds are variously seen as new products that will radically change the mutual fund industry or the latest novelty that will fleetingly appeal to fickle investors and then be forgotten.

With the volatility of the equity market showing no sign of lessening, some fund companies are taking steps to protect investors from that volatility.

MutualFunds.com of Boston will launch its website this fall as a mutual fund site targeting three audiences - investors, mutual fund companies and financial advisors.

NEW YORK - Discretionary, separately- managed accounts have been commanding growing attention as alternatives to traditional mutual fund investing for wealthy individuals.

Although exchange-traded funds will not supplant mutual funds in the near future, they will be the driving force behind industry changes in the next decade, creating opportunities for some firms and threatening others, according to a recent study.

Fidelity fund customers will be able to gain access to their accounts and buy and trade fund shares through wireless devices by late summer, making Fidelity the first fund company to both provide fund customers information and enable them to gain access to their accounts over wireless devices, according to Fidelity Investments of Boston.

Although advertisements and news stories about the latest product developments in exchange-traded funds are rife, there is no data available that allows investors to track the funds, according to mutual fund analysts and executives. That is because fund data and rating services are struggling to determine an accurate method of tracking the funds, they said.

Exchange-traded funds probably will not eliminate traditional mutual funds in the near future, but they may represent this decade's most significant product development in the fund industry, according to a survey released last week by Financial Research Corp., a financial-services tracking and consulting firm in Boston.

The Nvest Funds of Boston is planning to offer a fund that invests primarily in real estate investment trusts through one of Nvest's subsidiaries.

Dreyfus of New York has filed a registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission to offer a second technology fund, the Dreyfus Premier Nextech Fund.

The Warburg Pincus Funds of New York is planning to add two new technology funds - including a tech index fund - and a financial services fund to its lineup.

Strong Capital Management of Menomonee Falls, Wis. is reconsidering how to price the new class of shares it had announced it would create to sell through intermediaries.