US UNIT TRUST. There are many types. General equity funds invest in a range of equities with the aim of outperforming the market as measured by, for example, STANDARD & POOR’S 500 index. Index funds are invested in the leading stocks which...

Mutual funds belong to a group of financial intermediaries known as investment companies, which are in the business of collecting funds from investors and pooling them for the purpose of building a portfolio of securities according to stated...

This article deals with U.S. mutual funds. For other forms of mutual investment, see Collective investment schemes. A mutual fund is a professionally-managed form of collective investments that pools money from many investors and invests it in stocks,...

Are the days of the traditional mutual fund numbered?Mutual funds have been a strong force in the investment world, with their assets mushrooming from $135 billion at the end of 1980 to $10 trillion at year-end 2006.But investors have been stuffing a noticeably greater amount...

The mutual fund industry may not be a kid any longer, but it's still growing like a teenager.At the same time, it faces hot competitive challenges. Exchange traded funds, hedge funds and separately managed accounts all aim to take market share from open-end mutual funds.Still,...

When a group of Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. shareholders staged a board coup recently, an unlikely participant was among those leading the charge: A mutual fund.Fund managers typically aren't known for their shareholder activism. Mutual funds have long protested corporate decisions by selling their stock,...

The term of choice in political giving these days is straight out of the world of finance — donors have become "investors." Now, liberal California venture capitalists have come up with the natural corollary — political "mutual funds."The new venture, being launched Monday, is the...