Qualcomm helps New Year's celebrations
From The Wall Street Journal
Those managers holding Qualcomm celebrated the New Year early this year when the stock hit $647 a share after an analyst set a 12-month price target of $1,000. Funds that recently disclosed they held Qualcomm include Bridgeway Aggressive Growth Fund, Firsthand Technology Leaders Fund, Marsico Focus Fund, Security Global A and Trent Equity Fund. According to Morningstar Inc., 298 funds reported holding Qualcomm in their portfolios, including Putnam New Opportunities Fund, Oppenheimer Global A, Lord Abbett Affiliated A and Fidelity Aggressive Growth Fund.

Flows weaken
From The Wall Street Journal
December estimates from Fidelity Investments, Vanguard Group, T. Rowe Price Associates, Charles Schwab Corp. and Janus Capital Corp. show that net new cash flowing into stock mutual funds is down from November. Fidelity and T. Rowe say cash is flowing out of their stock funds this month following November gains. While new cash is moving into the other fund families, as of early Thursday December hasn't eclipsed November's success. Last month, investors invested $19.1 billion into stock funds, down from $21 billion in October, but well above the $12.8 billion of November 1998, according to the ICI.
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The Los Angeles Times

Miller beats index for 9 years
From The Wall Street Journal
Legg Mason Inc. money manager, William H. Miller III, is featured in The Wall Street Journal for beating the S&P index nine years in a row. Through Thursday the Value Trust  is up 26.9%, vs. the S&P 500 up 20.6%, both assuming reinvestment of dividends. Peter Lynch, the former Fidelity Magellan Fund manager with whom Miller is often compared,  never beat the benchmark for longer than a six-year run.

The bounty of the century
From The Wall Street Journal
1999 is ending as one of the most plentiful years in a decade, bestowing plenty of bounty from an unprecedented bull market. The average U.S. diversified stock mutual fund gained 26.12% for the year through Wednesday, according to preliminary data from Lipper Inc. That puts 1999 as the third-best year this decade in terms of average stock-fund returns, behind 1991's average stock-fund gain of 37.03% and 1995's typical stock-fund return of 31.65%. Mutual fund performance was also extremely volatile, and individual fund results are all over the board. About 20 different stock funds produced gains exceeding 200% in 1999, a record of triple-digit performance.  About 10 stock funds fell more than 25%, according to Lipper. Viewed another way, not quite half the diversified U.S. stock funds beat the S&P 500 index. The percentage of outperformers: 46.9%.

Jacob gets a symbol
From CBS Market Watch
The Jacob Internet Fund was given a ticker symbol JAMFX by Nasdaq. A fund generally does not receive a ticker symbol until it has reached at least $20 million in assets or 1,000 shareholders. The Jacob Internet Fund now has more than $150 million in assets. The new ticker will go into effect on Jan. 6. The Jacob Internet Fund is run by manager Ryan Jacob, who accumulated total returns of 498% from December 1997 to June 1999 on The Internet Fund before leaving to start his own asset management company.

In other news, The Berkshire Funds announced Thursday that it is launching its second mutual fund, The Berkshire Technology Fund. It will begin trading on Jan. 3 and will be managed by Malcolm Fobes, III, who also manages the Berkshire Focus Fund, which is up 136% over the last 12 months, according to Lipper Inc.

The WWW Internet Fund has taken a stake in an Internet high school sports network. The fund, along with a group of investors primarily in Lexington, Ky., put up $7.5 million in a private placement for iHigh.com, a company formed by Host Communications, a subsidiary of Bull Run Corporation, which has a 40% stake in the venture.  

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