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The message conveyed by the mutual-fund industry at its annual gathering seemed to veer between lessons learned from a rather horrible 2008 and the hopeful signs of a new spring.

It seems there have been "a lifetime of headlines" between last year's meeting of the Investment Company Institute and this one, ICI Chairman Bill McNabb reminded attendees as the meeting opened Wednesday. Some of those headlines "led us all to question many of the beliefs that investment advisers have," said McNabb, who is also president and chief executive of Vanguard Group.

Numerous stark reminders of the difficult year could be found in the ICI's just-issued 2009 Investment Company Fact Book, which was handed out at the annual meeting.

"With $9.6 trillion in assets, the U.S. mutual fund industry remained the largest in the world at year-end 2008," it read. "Nevertheless, total net assets fell $2.4 trillion from year-end 2007's level, largely reflecting the sharp drop in equity prices experienced worldwide in 2008. Investor demand for mutual funds slowed in 2008 with net new cash flow to all types of mutual funds amounting to $411 billion, less than half the pace seen in 2007."

Martin Flanagan, president and chief executive at Invesco Ltd. (IVZ), reminded them of the tough times, saying "the carnage was a global event," that "equity market returns were an ugly affair," and the American dream had become "a nightmare."

But Abby Joseph Cohen, senior investment strategist and president of the Global Markets Institute at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS), spoke of green shoots. "I do think that the financial markets are moving in the right direction," she said, noting that volatility in U.S. equity markets had declined. Nevertheless, she said, a real recession, a severe one such as the one the U.S. has had "doesn't end all at once." There could be many months between the first sector's recovery and the last sector's recovery, Cohen said.

There were some 730 attendees as of Wednesday, down from 1,400 last year, an ICI spokesman said Thursday. However, he noted that last year was the 50th anniversary of the annual gathering. More typical attendance numbers, he said, were 900 to 1,000.

Flanagan thanked everyone for coming, saying, "I know it's hard to get out of the office, especially in times like these."

The theme for the fund-industry gathering was "extraordinary times, steadfast commitment." As participants braced Thursday for news on banks' stress tests, it seemed apropos.

-By Daisy Maxey, Dow Jones Newswires; 201 938 4048; daisy.maxey@dowjones.com