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Bill Gross’s Janus Unconstrained Bond Fund Drops Sharply
Me thinks Bill was probably shorting long Treasuries. Noticed a bizarre drop in TMSRX (T. Rowe’s struggling attempt to run a hedge fund) on the same day. And I concluded they probably have a big short going on longer duration Treasuries. Just a guess of course.
wow.. just noticed he holds 10% equity, at least one ETF and a CEF or two.. the yield thou hardly breaks 2%. must be overhedged. this fund is a nightmare of an ill person, not a bond fund.
@Sven it's Bill's sole responsibility.. he's never been about team work and many analysts... only junior ones. he also has much of personal wealth in the fund...what a mess! some times people need to exit the business/ retire gracefully. he failed at that.
It's not that. Some people don't want to retire. Look at Warren Buffet. Just imagine what would happen if he ends the year 5% up for the year.
In a way it is better he has lot of his personal wealth invested in the fund. He is feeling the pain too. That's how I would have it. That's why people investing with him I would assume.
LOL. The title did not suggest it had anything to do with Bill Gross, and I stay away from "OMG!"stuff, so would never had read it unless you linked it.
One can always make excuses.
He is old is discriminatory.
He is distracted is well, personal.
He made a mistake, always possible in hindsight since not as if anyone pointed it out when he took those positions betting on rising interest rates. In fact everyone has been saying that.
The fact that Gross did better at PIMCO may relate to having a better research base at PIMCO than at Janus (as another poster already alluded to). “One-man bands” are more likely to run hot and cold. No? I think we underestimate the contribution the entire operation (multiple research capabilities and analytical specialists) contributes. Sure, a single person can hit home runs for a while. But likely the law of averages catches up and he’ll pay for that with some bad years. Not to rag on John Hussman, but I’ve always wondered how deep his supporting team runs? Compare that to an outfit like T. Rowe Price which is extremely deep.
While “bonds” are often perceived as “safer” or more conservative than stocks - when you get into derivatives, playing one currency against another, short selling or zero coupon bonds a lot of bad things can happen.
Additional thought: Near everybody and his brother have been expecting the 10-20 year interest rate cycle to reverse. So, it’s natural that fund managers (and investors) might look for ways to make money in a rising interest rate environment. Unfortunately, doing so involves additional risks,
Hank said it all about Pimco's backroom support that contributed to decade long out-performance in Bill Gross's Total Return fund. Out-performing by several % per year comparing to the benchmark, US Aggregate Index, is not trivial matter. Pimco as a whole is still doing well with their actively managed bond funds. There is much less drama now without Bill Gross. He was a great manager and I have done well investing with him for a long time. Toward the end of his tenure at Pimco, his fund trailed badly. Then I found Dan Ivascyn.
By all accounts, Gross did what he wanted when he was at PIMCO, so regardless of any alleged bench strength he could still have made the same decision. Also he is now "unconstrained" only. Not sure if he ran that strategy at PIMCO as well and if he was still there would also have been responsible for that funds performance.
All I'm saying is Bill took ALL credit at PIMCO, he should take ALL blame at Janus. And unfortunately now there is nowhere to hide for him since he is not managing multiple funds at Janus. IMO let's stick to the facts. No one is genius. Everyone makes mistakes. I'm not going to try and find something wrong in the personal life of Berkowitz to explain why FAIRX is sucking wind either.
Basically I'm saying let's put financial pron writers out of business. Doing soap opera reporting after affairs and divorces have occured is not intelligent. They were so smart they should have published article "Beware, Bill is in middle of bitter divorce and that may affect his ability to manage his fund". They didn't.
Comments
In a way it is better he has lot of his personal wealth invested in the fund. He is feeling the pain too. That's how I would have it. That's why people investing with him I would assume.
https://nypost.com/2018/05/11/wife-hung-fake-picasso-after-taking-real-thing-amid-contentious-divorce/
One can always make excuses.
He is old is discriminatory.
He is distracted is well, personal.
He made a mistake, always possible in hindsight since not as if anyone pointed it out when he took those positions betting on rising interest rates. In fact everyone has been saying that.
Stones, and Glass Houses, and all that stuff.
While “bonds” are often perceived as “safer” or more conservative than stocks - when you get into derivatives, playing one currency against another, short selling or zero coupon bonds a lot of bad things can happen.
Additional thought: Near everybody and his brother have been expecting the 10-20 year interest rate cycle to reverse. So, it’s natural that fund managers (and investors) might look for ways to make money in a rising interest rate environment. Unfortunately, doing so involves additional risks,
All I'm saying is Bill took ALL credit at PIMCO, he should take ALL blame at Janus. And unfortunately now there is nowhere to hide for him since he is not managing multiple funds at Janus. IMO let's stick to the facts. No one is genius. Everyone makes mistakes. I'm not going to try and find something wrong in the personal life of Berkowitz to explain why FAIRX is sucking wind either.
Basically I'm saying let's put financial pron writers out of business. Doing soap opera reporting after affairs and divorces have occured is not intelligent. They were so smart they should have published article "Beware, Bill is in middle of bitter divorce and that may affect his ability to manage his fund". They didn't.