Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : The New Qualcomm - a S&P500 company -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: LBstocks who wrote (5368)	1/18/2000 7:21:00 PM
From: Ruffian	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 13582

Merrill to Offer Internet Stock Fund: Mutual Funds (Update1) Merrill to Offer Internet Stock Fund: Mutual Funds (Update1) (Adds first reference to Financial Research Corp. in 5th paragraph.) New York, Jan. 18 (Bloomberg) -- Merrill Lynch & Co., whose mutual funds posted net withdrawals last year, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission to open a new fund focused on Internet companies to tap the hottest-selling market segment. The fund, to be called the Internet Strategies Fund, will be run by a team led by Paul Meeks, manager of the firm's Global Technology Fund, said spokeswoman Christine Walton. The new fund, filed with the SEC on Friday, is likely to open in March. Merrill's stock pickers will invest primarily in ''equity securities of issuers that managers think will use the Internet as part of their business strategy,'' said Walton. The new fund marks the firm's latest effort to bolster its offerings of growth stock funds. In recent months, Merrill hired new managers for retail and institutional funds, spent millions to build an index-fund unit and introduced new funds to shift the investment focus to growth stocks to attract customers. ''An Internet Fund with the support of the Merrill Lynch sales force should be a big success,'' Chris Brown, a Financial Research Corp. analyst, said. ''I think the sales force will probably be eager to have an exciting product like an Internet fund to offer their clients, and they should garner some very strong sales into that product right away.'' They could use the boost. Merrill Lynch Asset Management saw $11.9 billion in net outflows from its stock and bond funds in 1999 through Nov. 30, according to Financial Research Corp., a Boston-based mutual fund consultant. Merrill's 80 long-term funds totaled $71.2 billion as of Nov. 30, according to the latest data available from FRC. Merrill's Internet fund hopes to grab a portion of the explosive growth of Internet stock funds. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. saw its Internet Tollkeeper fund -- opened Oct. 1 with $17.5 million -- attract $1 billion by mid-December. Internet fund growth U.S. domestic stock fund assets rose 19.4 percent last year through Nov. 30, while Internet fund assets rose almost 1,700 percent, FRC data shows. Merrill Lynch had about 73 percent of its domestic equity products in value, FRC said. ''And that's a big problem,'' Brown said. ''And that's sort of across the board with a lot of the brokerage firms. Their product lines are mainly structured toward value.'' Firms like Merrill tend to have more conservative clients, who typically have a higher net worth and are more concerned about preserving assets than direct investors, he said. Such firms, with their concentration on value stocks and fixed income, haven't been able to keep pace with shops featuring growth and technology products, like Janus Capital Corp., the analyst said. ''Janus certainly is a big one,'' Brown said. ''Vanguard on the other hand has done fine because their index products have really helped to carry them.'' Offshore fund The success of an offshore fund started in November factored in Merrill's decision to start the new fund, Walton said. The offshore fund, called Internet Strategies Portfolio and managed by Meeks' team, has seen assets top $1 billion. As of Dec. 31, the portfolio was up 48.2 percent, Walton said. ''But more largely it's our view that we see the Internet as more than just a short-term trading vehicle,'' the Merrill spokeswoman said. ''It's a major sociological sea change in the way the world works, and as such we see that it has a lot of long- term investment potential.'' The offshore fund's top five holdings as of Nov. 30 were Softbank Corp., America Online Inc., Yahoo Inc., Cisco Systems Inc. and Qualcomm Inc.