No Democracy in Funds
From Morningstar.Net
The Fund Spy looks at the behavior of Alliance Capital in the wake of a shareholder vote that ousted the four directors -- including David Williams, chairman of Alliance -- from its Austria Fund. Alliance responded to its shareholders vote by creating three new board positions and naming ousted directors to the newly created spots. Shareholders will next get to vote in 2000, that is if they still believe that their votes count.

Is Diversification Back?
From The Wall Street Journal
Diversification is once again on the minds of financial planners. The paper runs through the basics of diversification and runs a chart showing funds representing four asset classes and their returns over 20 years.

A Boomer Index
From The Boston Globe
The work of Zhiwu Chen, a finance professor at Ohio State University posits that one-third of the runup in stocks can be attributed to the savings of baby boomers. He has developed an index to track this. If he is right: clear sailing to 2005 or 2010 when boomers start to retire.

Funds in the News
Morningstar.net looks at the performance of Wasatch Micro Cap. The Internet publication also examines the recent staff purge at Lindner Funds, calling saying that if anything, the overhaul has made things worse at the suffering fund company. More than half (53%) of mid-cap growth and 25% of mid-cap blend funds owned shares of Compuware, a stock that is down 46%, says SmartMoney. Worldly Investor looks at the Alpine real estate funds. 

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