3Q loss all but wipes out year's gains
From The Wall Street Journal
Mutual fund gains racked up at the beginning of the year have quietly been wiped away. The average U.S. diversified stock fund produced a loss of 6.16% in the quarter through Wednesday, leaving it up just 4.41% so far this year, Morningstar Inc. said. That is quite a departure from the robust 11.02% gain that the average stock fund had on June 30. Among the big losers is the average large company value fund that lost a steep 10.32% for the quarter through Wednesday.

Japan funds still soaring
From Investor's Business Daily
Japanese mutual funds were the top performing funds this quarter. For the quarter, through September 23, equity funds were up just 1.7% but Japanese funds were up 22%, according to Lipper Inc. Industry experts say that the rebound in Japan continues to be fueled by mergers and acquisitions among Japanese companies.

Institutions bullish, individuals cautious
From TheStreet.com
Institutional investors might be bullish on emerging Latin American and Asian economies but individual investors are still too spooked to buy in. All 35 emerging-markets funds with a five-year record in Morningstar's database have a negative return for that period. The average annual return over the past five years is -4.9%. This year, however, emerging-markets funds are delivering an average return of 27.9% and the pros say they feel the worst is past.

Renaming the what?
From TheStreet.com
Dear Dagen writes about how many fund companies are marketing unit investment trusts as Defined Asset Funds. The change in name is to better explain the product, a marketing specialist at Merrill is quoted as saying. The general public is not familiar with UITs so companies have taken it upon themselves to rename the wheel. Van Kampen Funds calls its UITs "Focus Portfolios." The name change may seem silly but this year equity UITs have taken in $47.7 billion through August, according to the Investment Company Institute.  

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