Reuters – Fund manager Gartmore is preparing a major push into the UK retail hedge fund market after picking up strong demand for its first products in the sector, a senior executive said.

The plan comes after a rough year for hedge funds worldwide, and following steep outflows from Gartmore’s own institutional funds, but advisory Board member Phil Wagstaff is convinced demand from retail investors is on the rise.

"The hedge fund world and the UK retail world will collide – we see this as a core area for us going forward and we see this as a growth area for the industry," Wagstaff, who is also head of global distribution at the firm, told Reuters.

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Reuters – Fund of hedge funds boutique Hermes BPK Partners said on Monday it has appointed Glyn Jones, former chief executive officer of Thames River Capital and Gartmore, as its new chairman.

Hermes BPK Partners is a partnership between its managers and UK fund firm Hermes, which is owned by the 39 billion pound ($58.19 billion) BT (BT.L) pension scheme.

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Wall Street Journal- Wall Street executives expect the Securities and Exchange Commission to extend the temporary limits it has placed on short-selling and expand them to cover additional stocks beyond the 19 financial companies it targeted two weeks ago.

The limits are set to expire Tuesday, and executives, lobbyists and hedge-fund representatives of the Managed Funds Association, the biggest hedge-fund industry group, have been talking throughout the weekend, trying to come up with possible approaches to asking the SEC to reconsider expanding the rules, according to people familiar with the talks.

A call with regulators on Friday gave the funds group "a fair degree of certainty" that the SEC intends to seek an extension of the emergency period, these people said. Regulators said an extension could be for as short as 60 days and could involve insurance, housing-industry and a broader range of financial stocks, according to these people. SEC Chairman Christopher Cox indicated last week the rules might be extended to all stocks.

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