I am researching historical practices of mutual fund market timing for
the period prior to September 2003.  This is an investment approach
that involves rapidly switching funds between an equity mutual fund
and a money market mutual fund.  Since September of 2003 there has
been an industry wide crack down on the practice of mutual fund market
timing and a number of mutual funds have paid large settlements to the
SEC to settle charges that they allowed market timing that was not in
the best interest of mutual fund shareholders.

The particular angle that I am researching is the extent to which
mutual fund market timing was an out in the open accepted investment
alternative in the months and years prior to September 2003.  Over the
years a number of investment books have been published recommending
mutual fund market timing as a way to increase investment returns and
reduce volatility.  There have been a number of newsletters that an
investor could subscribe to in order to get recommendations as to when
to switch into and out of specific mutual funds.  For an additional
fee, some newsletters would send an investor a fax or e-mail alert
advising them when to make a mutual fund switch.  There were also
software programs that could be purchased or leased advising an
investor when to make a mutual fund switch.

What I am specifically looking for is 4 types of reference:

1. Books that have been published which recommended investment
techniques for market timing mutual funds.  The entire book need not
be on the topic of mutual fund market timing so long as there is an
in-depth discussion of how to market time mutual funds in one or more
chapters of the book. For example the widely popular book "Market
Wizards" devoted several chapters to mutual fund market timing.

2. Newsletters that were available on a subscription basis which made
specific recommendations for when to buy and sell mutual funds in a
market timing investment program. The newsletter may no longer be in
circulation, but it would be sufficient to get a the name and the last
available contact information for the publication.

3. Services that would actually give an investor a phone call, fax or
e-mail recommending a specific mutual fund market timing switch to be
made on a particular date.

4. Computer programs that could be purchased or leased to provide
specific signals for when to purchase and when to sell mutual funds as
part of a market timing investment approach to mutual fund investing.

Although all four of these are related questions and likely could be
answered by a single researcher I would like specific and detailed
research on all 4 categories.  Accordingly I am submitting this same
research question with 4 separate headings so that I can offer a $200
research project for each category of reference.

In this specific question I am asking for research on topic THREE:
Services that are or were available on a subscription basis under
which an investor would for a fee receive a phone call, fax or e-mail
making a specific recommendation to make a mutual fund market timing
exchange on a specific date. It may be that the service is no longer
available, and it would be sufficient to just provide the last
available contact information for the service.

Thank you for your help.

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Request for Question Clarification by bobbie7-ga on 16 Jul 2004 10:38 PDT

I located one service that might interest you.

Description:
Objective mutual fund selection and market timing hot-lines for
investments in Rydex Sector, Rydex Index and Fidelity Select mutual
funds.

They sent a fax or e-mail to you whenever a signal is generated.

This website is not longer in service however I can provide you with
the name of the company that provided this service, an archived image
of their website and their last available contact information.

Would this information interest you?

Thanks,
Bobbie7