PRODUCT WATCH

First Call stock and bond info to debut on Reuters

All First Call Corp. stock and bond services are now available on Reuters Plus, which allows financial professionals to integrate their own proprietary functions with Reuters information.

The system offers two levels of service; one primarily is for real-time data while the second adds historical and fundamental data, as well as access to content like First Call’s services via Reuters Web.

Reuters Plus users will have access to First Call Notes, First Call Research Direct, First Call Real Time Earnings Estimates, First Call Recommendations and First Call BondCall Direct.

‘Look, ma, no hands, for financial services

Digitrade Inc. has unveiled Speak Now, a service bureau that will provide speech recognition applications to financial services firms on a time-to-market basis using Applied Language Technologies’ SpeechWorks speech recognition software. The first “universal” speech recognition application, to debut in July, will offer access to stock quotes and other market data as well as account information.

Speech recognition promises to eliminate memorization of a host of stock and mutual fund symbols that can be cumbersome to enter on a touch-tone telephone.

Nationwide Financial increases options

Three new fund options, as well as dollar-cost averaging features, have been added to several Best of America variable annuity and variable life products from Nationwide Financial Services Inc.

The new funds are American Century VP Income and Growth Fund, investing in common stocks matching the Standard & Poor’s 500 stock index’s risk level; NSAT Nationwide Small Cap Value Fund, and Neuberger & Berman AMT Guardian Portfolio, investing in common stocks of long-established companies.

The options will be added to three variable annuities — Best of America IV, America’s Vision Annuity and America’s Exclusive Annuity — as well as three variable life products from the Life Planning Series.

Additionally, dollar-cost averaging options have been added for the Fidelity VIP High Income Portfolio for all six products, as well as for the NSAT Nationwide High Income Bond Fund within America’s Future annuity and Next Generation Life products.

Putnam tacks on Hartford’s name

The variable annuity jointly offered by Putnam Investments and Hartford Life Inc. has changed its name from Putnam Capital Manager to Putnam Hartford Capital Manager. It also began offering four new investment subaccounts on May 1, bringing its total to 21.

The new subaccounts will be managed by the same investment teams, with the same investment guidelines, as the similarly named Putnam mutual funds. They are George Putnam Fund of Boston, Putnam Health Sciences, Putnam Investors and Putnam OTC and Emerging Growth.

Psst, buddy! Plain English written here

National Regulatory Services Inc. is offering plain English translation of mutual fund prospectuses in line with the Securities and Exchange Commission’s new plain English Disclosure and New Form N-1A rules. All mutual funds may begin converting their current documents into plain English by June 1 and every filing must comply with the regulation by Dec. 1.

The service provides, among other things, two drafts of the company’s registration statement written in plain English on the new Form N-1A, a conference call coordinating changes between the two drafts and one design layout disk including clip art. Pricing starts at $5,000.

Thornburg goes global with value offering

Thornburg Funds has filed a registration statement with the Securities Exchange Commission for its Global Value Fund.

The new fund will normally have more than one-half of its assets outside the United States. Managed by a portfolio team led by William Fries, this second equity fund for the company will follow a similar investment approach to Thornburg Value Fund.

Minimum initial investments are $5,000 for retail accounts and $2,000 for retirement accounts.

SRC software charts a course

Babson-United Inc., publisher of the SRC security chart books, has introduced SRC ChartScreen, a CD-ROM that enables financial planners and investors to chart and screen investment performance and to present and justify their recommendations.

The software’s portfolio management function tracks user-specified securities and automatically calculates current values and gains of the portfolio.

AA bonds in new AAdvantage fund?

American AAdvantage Funds has two new funds: the S&P 500 Index Fund and Intermediate Bond Fund. Both no-load funds are managed by AMR Investment Services Inc. Each requires a minimum initial investment of $2,500.

The index fund is subadvised by Bankers Trust Co. The bond fund seeks income and capital appreciation from investment-grade fixed-income securities with an average weighted duration of three to seven years. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss is the investment adviser.

Bond trading system features negotiation

Limitrader, a electronic bond trading system with an online negotiating feature is being offered to institutional investors and broker-dealers. The system is expected to be operational in September. It is designed to execute orders at the lowest price available, while letting customers anonymously enter a variety of limit orders or indications that the system automatically routes to a counterparty to initiate direct, investor-to-investor negotiation.

The system, developed by Limitrader Securities Inc., of Princeton, N.J., has received a “no-action” letter from the Securities and Exchange Commission that allows it to operate as an electronic communications network in the corporate bond market.

More investor ammo at IPO Monitor site

IPO Monitor, an Internet initial public offering site at www.ipomonitor.com, has added a feature that assesses the demand for a new issue before it is priced and an index that measures the performance strength of the IPO market.

In addition, new pages will be added to summarize the most current data on pending IPOs, including who receives the proceeds from the offering (company vs. selling shareholders).

Other additions, including a link to the BigCharts stock charting services on each company’s data sheet, a page showing the opening and closing prices on an IPO’s first day of trading and an expanded list of hot IPOs, are available as links from the home page.

Emirates bank fund welcomes foreigners

The United Arab Emirates has opened its first mutual fund to invest exclusively in the country’s banking stocks, which have soared 120% over the last three years.

The open-end Emirates Banking Stock Fund is managed by the Dubai-based Emirates Bank Group and is open to both local and foreign investors. Foreign investment is capped at $1.36 million per person. The fund is sold through all branches of Emirates Bank International and the Middle East Bank. Minimum subscription is $2,800.

Fremont goes online with daily numbers

Fremont Investment Advisors has launched a web site to provide updated facts and information on the company’s group of funds. Located at www.fremontfunds. com, the site offers performance numbers updated daily and basic information about the company. Nasdaq, Russell 2000 and S&P 500 index performance data are also available with a 20-minute delay.

Send product news and information to Wendy Hong at InvestmentNews, 220 E. 42nd St., Ninth Floor, New York, N.Y. 10017-5846.