Ticker Talk

Vanguard Group’s Index 500 fund has eclipsed Fidelity’s flagship Magellan as No. 1 in total assets--at least temporarily, according to reports Wednesday from two newsletters that track the mutual funds. James Lowell, editor of Fidelity Investor, and Daniel Wiener, editor of Independent Adviser for Vanguard Investors, say the index fund, which tracks the Standard & Poor’s 500, had $107.2 billion as of Tuesday, versus $106.9 billion in actively managed Magellan. But the comparison says little about active versus passive investing because Magellan was closed to most new investors in 1997.