Search

Reports on the announcement that Joan Athen, the community college advisor at the U.S. Dept. of Education, will not have the official title of community college liaison standard among her predecessors. Career background of Athen; Duties of Athen at the department; Plans of Athen to implement the Education Department strategic plans.

The article reports on the preparation being made by Cambria Investment Management for its four actively managed exchange-traded funds (ETfs). Cambria filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for exemptive relief to launch actively managed ETFs that would report their portfolio holdings every day. The actively managed fund of index ETFs has garnered more than 170 million dolalrs in assets since it was launched in October 2010.

The article reports on the plan of BlackRock to merge its 765 million-dollar BlackRock S&P 500 Index Fund and the 156.4 million-dollar BlackRock Index Equity Portfolio into the 330 million-dollar BlackRock S&P 500 Stock Fund. According to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the funds are feeders for two separate master funds that are also being merged. The funds are part of the Standard & Poor's (S&P) 500 Index category of Lipper.

The article discusses Guggenheim Investments' development of a closed-end fund called Guggenheim Dynamic Opportunities Fund. The fund's enabling of portfolio managers to have the flexibility to invest across asset classes in the U.S. and emerging markets is addressed. The interest of closed-end fund investors in income-oriented products is considered. The possibility of investing up to 60 percent of the fund in equities is also discussed.

The article reports that Virtus Investment Partners has field paperwork with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in June 2012 regarding its plan to launch five mutual funds with various strategies and subadvisors. The company's plan to acquire firms with assets of at least one billion dollars and specialist investment teams and new subadvisory relationships is mentioned. Subadvisors who have partnered with Virtus include Horizon Asset Management and Thomas J. Herzfeld Advisors.

The article reports that OppenHeimer Funds is set to merge away its 505-million-dollar Oppenheimer Champion Income Fund which was the center of a 2012 U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission disclosure probe that ended with the firm's acceptance of a 35-million-dollar settlement deal. SEC alleged Oppenheimer made misleading statements about the said fund and the 1.2-billion-dollar Oppenheimer Core Bond Fund during the 2008 financial crisis.

The article reports on the plan of HSBC Global Asset Management (USA) to launch a new mutual fund in the U.S. market approximately every four months for at least a year. According to Deborah Hazell, head of the firm's North American asset management business, the company intends to focus on emerging markets strategies, which it considers as the cornerstone for growing its retail business in the U.S. In April 2012, the firm launched its fifth emerging markets fund, the HSBC Total Return Fund.

The article reports on the statement by Mellody Hobson of Ariel Investments that the way to face challenging times is to stick to the time-honored principles of investing, rather than seeking the quick score. She stresses the importance for mutual funds to innovate and to bring the best of investment management to the investor of moderate means. She also cited the 401(k) market as an example of how innovation has impacted a large portion of American investors.

The article reports on the launch by Intrepid Capital Funds of its Intrepid Small Cap UCITS Fund . It was noted that the new fund is a replication of the company's Intrepid Small Cap Fund in the U.S. and marks its entry into Undertakings for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities (UCITS) market. It is also being managed by the same managers of the U.S. version. Chief executive Mark Travis said a major draw for the fund will be access to the firm's absolute return orientation.

The article reports that documents have been filed by three firms with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to bring initial public offerings of closed-end funds that will invest in energy master limited partnerships (MLP). ClearBridge Energy MLP Total Return Fund, the Tortoise Energy Independence Fund and the Salient Midstream & MLP Fund are the three proposed funds. It notes that the distribution yields of MLP funds ranged from 5.5% to 8%.

The article reports that the municipal bond market has maintained a profitable pace of inflows this 2012 as investors continue to focus on income and capital preservation, and asset managers are lining up with products to tap into that demand. Among the firms that have filed paperwork with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to bring municipal bond mutual funds and exchange-traded funds to market are BlackRock and BlackRock's iShares, PIMCO, and MainStay Investments.

The article reports that independent, publicly listed U.S. asset managers were able to outperform asset management subsidiaries of listed U.S. financial conglomerates in 2011. Publicly traded asset managers reported a median profitability of 35 percent in 2011, compared to 25 percent for subsidiaries. Jeb Doggett, a partner at Casey, Quirk & Associated, cited retaining top talent and having lower turnover as the key factors that influenced such success.

The article reports on the plan of State Street Global Advisors to launch two exchange-traded funds (ETF). In its filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, State Street cited its plan to create an emerging markets corporate bond ETF and a U.S. corporate bond ETF which will invest in investment-grade and high-yield debt. SPDR BofA Merrill Lynch Crossover Corporate Bond ETF is expected to be the first ETF to invest in triple-B to double-B minus rated bonds.

The article deals with the plan of Aberdeen Asset Management to more than double its U.S. assets. Executives want to boost the company's 270 billion U.S. dollar assets in the U.S. between 25-30 percent over the next few years. The move would be driven by global multi-asset strategies, according to Nigel Storer, head of U.S. development at Aberdeen Solutions.

The article focuses on a plan by Exchange Traded Concepts (ETC) to launch a hedge fund replication exchange-traded fund (ETF). It intends to track the actual holdings of specific hedge fund managers as disclosed via U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) 13F filings. ETC targets for the new fund are registered investment advisors, small U.S. asset managers, overseas fund firms and hedge fund managers.

The article discusses the highlights of IndexUniverse's Inside ETFs Conference in Hollywood, Florida in January 2012. Innovation was the dominant theme for fixed-income exchange-traded funds. Conference participants were told to expect the launch of funds with more precise sector and credit buckets in the U.S. and more hedged and unhedged single-country exposure in emerging markets.

The article reports that offline advertising spending by John Hancock Funds and State Street Global Advisors (SSGA) increased by 11,225% and 1,412%, respectively in the first nine months of 2011. Overall spending by the mutual fund industry went up to 102 million U.S. dollars. The campaign of John Hancock focused in raising awareness of mutual funds.

The article reports on a study on the progress of the securities industry in the U.S. since 2008 by Lipper. According to the company, warnings about equity exposure in the prospectuses of target-date funds went up. It also noted that there was a decline in actual equity exposure in these funds at retirement.

The article reports on a proposal by Invesco to merge away seven open-end mutual funds and 25 closed-end funds in 2012. The company has already started a consolidation of its fund lineup earlier in 2011 after it acquired the retail mutual fund business of Morgan Stanley. According to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the mergers will reduce overlap and create economies of scale in the resulting funds.

The article reports on the plan of the Legg Mason Capital Management Value Trust to tap the healthcare, technology and financial services sectors in the U.S. According to co-portfolio manager Sam Peters, they will focus on mega-cap companies with strong capital allocation programs and cash-rich balance sheets. The company will also target companies with capitalizations of 90 billion U.S. dollars.

The article reports on the plan of Brown Advisory to launch its first dividend focused equity mutual fund by the end of 2011. Called the Brown Advisory Equity Income Fund, the fund will focus on companies in the U.S. with high dividend yields and rising dividend streams. Portfolio managers are Michael Foss and Brian Graney.

The article reports on the plan of BNP Paribas Asset Management (BNPAM) to enter the U.S. retail market by partnering with a large asset manager having a strong brand name that could put the French bank's fixed-income offerings on the market. BNPAM reportedly aims to replicate global fixed-income strategies that it manages overseas in the UCITS format. BNP Paribas, the asset manager of BNPAM, is planning to layoff 1,396 jobs at its corporate and investment.

The article reports on the preparation being done by Hatteras Funds for its two new funds. Robert Worthington of Hatteras says the company's first managed futures mutual fund will be included in the Alpha Hedge Strategies fund of funds. Hatteras has also filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for closed-end long/short equity fund Hatteras Sector Select Fund. Jessica Sherburne of Hatteras has confirmed that the company will revamp its website.

This article reports on the opinion of David Kelly, chief market strategist at JPMorgan Asset Management, on the need to include alternatives investments in investment portfolios in the U.S. in 2011. According to Kelly, the inclusion of alternatives investments will provide exposure to uncorrelated asset classes. He identified the indications that the country will not experience a recession, including strong corporate profits and moderate inflation.

This article reports on the plan of Eagle Asset Management to launch a U.S. all-cap equity Undertakings for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities (UCITS) fund in 2011. According to Cooper Abbott, chief operating officer (COO) and executive vice president at Eagle, European investors expressed optimism for the U.S. market. The firm has assets under management in nine mutual funds.

The article reports that Saturna Capital is seeking to acquire mid-sized mutual fund advisory businesses in the U.S. and Asia-Pacific and is targeting subadvisory mandates. The Bellingham, Washington-based company is seeking to buy mutual fund companies with assets under management less than its current 3.6 billion U.S. dollars. The company advises Amana Funds and Sextant Funds.

This article reports on the selection of Dimensional Fund Advisors (DFA) as the top advisor-sold mutual fund brand in the U.S. in 2011. DFA has been chosen as the top brand for the second year in a row. Meanwhile, the position of American Funds in the rank dropped. The firm distributes its mutual funds through advisors, wirehouses and broker-dealers.

The article reports on the plan of Direxion Funds to merge three Spectrum-branded funds with more than 112 million dollars in assets into a newly formed series in Northern Lights Funds Trust II of Gemini Fund Services. In a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing, Hundredfold Advisors said it proposed the reorganization because it lets investors provide similar shareholder services and offer the potential for lower operating expenses.

This article reports on the plan of John Hancock Funds to merge its U.S. Core Fund into its U.S. Equity Fund in 2011.