Gold shines
From The Wall Street Journal
Gold-oriented mutual funds boomed, while technology and Latin American funds also showed strong performance in the weekly list of fund returns compiled by Lipper Inc. As the price of gold rose above $310 an ounce, gold funds climbed 11.93% for the week ended Thursday. The rise wasn't able to do much to increase the group's year-to-date returns of only 0.43%. Closing out the top five mutual fund categories for the week were Latin American funds, up 7.45%; science-and-technology funds, up 7.15%; small-cap growth funds, up 6.53%; and mid-cap growth funds, up 6.05%.

Bond funds dip into stocks
From The Wall Street Journal
As risk becomes more popular, some managers of junk-bond funds have built up large stakes in stocks -- particularly those of technology and telecommunications companies -- during the past 12 months. Amid a lackluster bond market, many bond fund managers came into ownership of their stocks via convertible bonds and warrants, and held onto these shares rather than selling them as they ordinarily would. Some have even dipped into stocks directly. While the holdings have boosted their results, these bond funds may carry a little more risk than the average investor realizes.

Catering to the well-heeled with mutual funds
From CBS.MarketWatch.com
Mount & Nadler, which specializes in the marketing needs of financial service providers, said small private money managers catering to high-net-worth investors are looking to expand their businesses into the mutual fund arena. More money managers are entering the fund biz by sub-advising new and existing mutual fund portfolios. In many cases, managers have started their own mutual funds, the firm said.

MetLife creating peanut gallery
From InvestmentNews
Metropolitan Life Insurance is hoping to generate lots of peanuts when it begins selling wrap accounts shortly before going public in March 1, also the start of an aggressive strategy to beef up its asset management business. The life insurer has made agreements with about 40 mutual fund companies and will initially offer the program through roughly 350 of its 7,100 agents. To head the effort, MetLife hired Kevin Burns last month. He had helped build a similar program for rival Prudential Insurance of America.  

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