SEC LOOKING AT MFS MARKET TIMING

NY POST ^ | December 9, 2003 | JENNY ANDERSON

[Liz]

The Securities and Exchange Commission has told Massachusetts Financial Services, the 11th-largest mutual fund company in the United States, that it could face civil charges for failing to disclose market-timing practices.

The firm - a subsidiary of Canada's Sun Life, which has $348.5 billion in assets under management - is the latest in the $7 trillion industry to be named in the ever-widening investigation into improper mutual fund trading practices. Regulators including the SEC and New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer are examining both late trading and market timing.

[ken5050]

Top of the page story ..huge headline, in the NY Times biz section...MFs is in deeper doo-doo than Putnam, becuase its prospecti specifically prohibited the market-timing trades that occured..in effect, MFS created TWO classes of shareholders..

[Liz]

I'll check it out. Thanks.

[Liz]

MFS says it did monitor market timing in its international and high-yield funds, where pricing discrepancies are more apparent - and would potentially make any timing more lucrative. But the firm did not monitor its domestic large-cap stock and high-grade bond funds. "MFS believed that daily monitoring with respect to these large and highly liquid funds was unnecessary because MFS concluded that frequent trading in these funds would not be disruptive to portfolio management and harm fund performance," the company said in a statement.

[onyx]

Thanks for the ping, Liz. Admittedly, I am confused.

[Grampa Dave]

This is potentially more serious than many of the other funds involved so far as Ken noted.

Personally, I want to see the entire Bond Fund and Bond pricing wizards operating behind their curtains investigated. The stuff that comes out of their mouths as they try to explain their ups and downs on MSNBC, is so full of BS. You need chest waders just to watch and listen to them.

[Grampa Dave]

Don't be confused.

In life for centuries, there have been good men and women and on the other side evil men and women.

Now thanks to the internet and other news, we get to find out about the bad guys a lot faster.

[ken5050]

We need a FR pool as to which fund company disappears first..Strong, Putnam, or MFS...I think it's Putnam..they have the biggest "name" recognition..hence, perversely, are the easiest target...they are getting "zero" new dollar inflow, the "run" will soon become a $ exhanguination....wait till the year end figures come out...assets under management no's are distored, because of the rising markets...

[Liz]

Thanks for the ping, Liz. Admittedly, I am confused.

Don't even try to second-guess the Wall St criminal materminds.

Remember that most Wall St thievery was done during the Clinton bubble when the US literally did not have a justice system in place (Janet--gag--Reno was USAG). Few of the people committing crimes figured they'd get caught.

[onyx]

Exactly, and Robert Rubin was at Treasury. Damn crooks all.

[Liz]

.....thanks to the internet.........we get to find out about the bad guys a lot faster......

Proven time and again. Anything posted here goes halfway around the world in literally minutes. Everyday, we need to thank God--or Al Gore, whichever the case may be--for the internet.

[Liz]

Robert Rubin? Whatever happened to him? (/sarcasm).

Thanks for bringing up his unsavory tenure to our attention.

[Liz]

Yeah, the drop numbers figure to be astronomical. A real blood bath.....or exsanguination, as you said.

[SierraWasp]

"This is potentially more serious than many of the other funds involved so far..."

From a brochure describing MFS investment management:

"MFS Investment Management traces its history back to 1924, when their founders invented America's first mutual fund, Massachusetts Investors Trust." (emphasis added)

I was so hoping something like this, to this outfit would NOT OCCUR!!!

[Grampa Dave]

What are the withdrawals from Putnam up to now.

A couple of weeks ago, it was over 21 billion.

This has a hammering effect on the various indexes as Putnam and other soon to be DoDo Mutual Funds have to sell stocks to pay for rollovers and cash outs.

[Grampa Dave]

Hopes and wishes on a star don't fair too well today in the market world.

[Protagoras]

In life for centuries, there have been good men and women and on the other side evil men and women.

And they are the same people.

[SierraWasp]

"In a statement, the firm said that the SEC is not considering allegations that MFS employees timed or traded late in the company's own funds - far more serious charges that regulators have lodged against Strong Capital Management, Putnam Investments and other companies."

The way I read this... It looks as though SEC doesn't feel it's as serious as Putnam, Strong, et al. Is that the way you read that?

[Protagoras]

Remember that most Wall St thievery was done during the Clinton bubble when the US literally did not have a justice system in place

Thievery has been rife since the market began. There is less now than ever before. More people find out about it now. That's the difference.

Clinton was a goof, but that is beside the point in this case.

[SierraWasp]

It was a hope based on a love of the traditional American Values and not wanting the history of the outfit that invented MF's to be tarnished. Nothing based on reality, just sentimentalism!

See how the Clinton years seem to tarnish more and more with their corruption of traditional American Values?