Are Fund Company Layoffs a Reason to Worry? (Morningstar.com) and Conn. legislators approve town assistance plan (AP)

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City of Industry, CA --(www.USEquityNews.com)-- 11/26/2008 - Retirement industry alert provided by U.S. Equity News. Running a mutual fund can make you rich. Fund managers can earn millions, and those assisting them typically aren't hurting either. Unless they get laid off, that is. And lately it's layoffs that have been making the news.


In recent weeks a number of mutual fund companies have announced plans to let people go. Ariel, a small shop, was one of the first to announce cuts. Fidelity's two waves of reductions will cut loose 3,000 employees. BlackRock has shed personnel, as well. Others have made similar announcements, and there's almost certainly more to come.For shareholders of funds run by these companies, these announcements can be confusing or disconcerting. Are they firing all the managers? Who's going to pick the stocks? Or is this all back-office shuffling unrelated to the funds themselves?First, Don't PanicThe first thing to do is put these numbers in perspective. Fidelity is a vast financial conglomerate. The retail mutual fund operation is just one part. [Read the full article]

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) -- State legislators took a $300 million bite out of the state's budget deficit Monday night by passing a mid-year mitigation plan, but it won't be enough to mop up all of Connecticut's growing pool of red ink.

Legislative leaders warned that deeper state budget cuts are on the horizon."I anticipate that this is not the end of this," said Senate President Donald E. Williams Jr., D-Brooklyn. "This is the beginning. This is the first step."Monday's plan -- based mostly on a proposal offered last month by Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell -- was expected to leave the approximate $18 billion budget for the current fiscal year $250 million or more in deficit. Also, the package does not touch the estimated $6 billion revenue gap over the next two fiscal years."Deficit estimates have grown. There's no doubt about that," said Rep. [Read the full article]

RIVERSIDE, Calif. (AP) -- Fleetwood Enterprises Inc., which makes recreational vehicles and manufactured homes, reported Tuesday a wider than expected loss in its second quarter amid crumbling RV demand as consumers found it harder to get loans.

Fleetwood said it lost $56.7 million, or 74 cents per share, in the quarter ended Oct. 26, compared with a loss of $1.2 million, or 2 cents per share, a year ago. Revenue fell 54 percent to $216.4 million, with RV sales taking the hardest hit, plunging 63 percent.Excluding restructuring charges, the company lost 59 cents per share. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected a loss of 44 cents per share, on average. Such estimates typically exclude one-time costs.Elden L. Smith, Fleetwood's president and chief executive said in a statement, "We do not expect market conditions to improve in the near future." Smith said operating losses will likely be sustained through the remainder of the fiscal year. [Read the full article]

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) -- Pennsylvania's massive state government and teacher pension funds reported double-digit declines Tuesday, losses that reflect returns through September but not the market's continued fall since then. And officials with both systems warned that year-end totals could be even worse.From July 1 through Sept. 30, the two funds fell by more than $12 billion, or nearly half the size of the current state budget.The State Employees' Retirement System said its investments fell about 14.4 percent from January through September, while the larger Public School Employees' Retirement System's investments dropped 16.7 percent for the one-year period ending Sept. 30.The government workers' pension fund shed $4.3 billion dollars from July 1 though Sept. 30, ending the period with a value of $29.3 billion. [Read the full article]

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