Mutual Funds: Mutual-fund/ETF performance, analysis and more

New research indicates that a fund's brightest star isn't the manager after all. As columnist Mark Hulbert explains in this week's lead story, "It's the Fund Company, Not the Manager," the employer is more important than the employee. Apparently, the supporting cast behind a fund manager -- the research and trading operations, corporate culture -- influences performance more than any single-minded buy or sell decision.

Read Hulbert's surprising report, and check out another study that makes another eye-opening claim - this one linking corporate political contributions to stock performance. Then, see how inflation-fighting funds fit into a portfolio when inflation concerns subside, and columnist Chuck Jaffe explains a new rule governing the fund industry that's designed to prevent future trading abuses, all on MarketWatch's Mutual Funds page this week. Pity the poor fund manager, faced with pressures from institutional and retail shareholders, unpredictable markets, internal politics, and rival managers.

Now, it seems, this ongoing effort to be relevant may not be so relevant after all.

Effective last week, Fidelity Investments changed the managers of a dozen or so of its mutual funds. Should you care?

Intuition says we should. After all, what could be more important to the performance of a fund than the guy who's running it? Democrats might not wrest control of Congress in next month's U.

S. elections, but new research suggests the current minority party has already mastered the stock market. A unique group of specialized mutual funds has been fighting the good fight to protect investors from inflation.

"Real-return" funds possess an arsenal of inflation-fighting weapons, starting with inflation-protected Treasury bonds and sometimes also including real-estate securities, commodities and high-yield bonds. The slumping energy and precious-metals sectors appear poised for a strong rebound, according to an exchange-traded fund analyst for Investors Intelligence, a well-known investment newsletter. Many U.

S. investors haven't considered including U.S.

-listed shares of overseas companies as part of their portfolio strategy, and one stock researcher says they're missing an opportunity. Peter Vanderlee, a portfolio manager at investment firm ClearBridge Advisors, recognizes the value of a dollar -- or at least part of one -- paid out in shareholder dividends. Regulators are finally closing the door on most of the issues that led to the rapid-trading mutual fund scandals of 2003, and making it so the horse thieves can't get in to revisit their crimes.

Ultimately, the move could lead to sweeping changes but, for now, it's good enough to know that the industry appears to have closed the loopholes that led to all the trouble.