Numerous mutual fund firms are backing away from B shares or abandoning them altogether. Fundsters interested in this trend may want to take a look at Larry Light's Saturday article on the subject in the Wall Street Journal. Light argues that the share class utilizing back-end loads is in decline because broker-dealers and mutual fund firms alike both don't want to sell them anymore. He blames fallen asset prices (meaning lower back-end loads for brokers and fund firms), among other things.

Eric Jackson, director of fixed-income research at Morningstar, and Adam Bold, found of the Mutual Fund Store, both offer their thoughts on the subject to the WSJ.

Fund firms that have decided to eliminate B shares altogether include: Capital Group's American Funds; Calamos; Evergreen (Wachovia's asset management arm, now part of Wells Fargo); Goldman Sachs; JPMorgan; and Pimco. First American, Praxis and Thornburg have also made moves away from B shares. 

Edited by: Neil Anderson, Managing Editor


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