FUNDS DISAPPEAR

Back in the millennium year, justas the bull market started to stagger,mutual fund companies set a recordfor new fund launches. Two yearslater, the number of funds that wereliquidated or merged into other fundsset another record. According to thefund mavens at Morningstar (www.morningstar.com), an all-time high of373 mutual funds faded into oblivionlast year, while 733 funds weremerged into others, also a record.New funds were in short supply; only702 new funds opened for businesslast year, the lowest number in adecade, down 60% from the recordyear of 2000. Tech funds again tookthe heaviest flak, with 17% of the 356tech funds that Morningstar tracksno longer in business by year-end.