By Min Zeng
High-profile fund manager Bill Gross boosted U.S.
government-related holdings at the world's largest bond fund he
runs in October amid a price rally in Treasury bonds.
The holdings, which include U.S. Treasury bonds, accounted for
37% last month at the $247.9 billion Total Return Fund at Pacific
Investment Management Co., compared to 35% in September, according
to data posted on the firm's website.
Mr. Gross is founder and co-chief investment officer at Pimco,
which is a unit of German's financial services firm Allianz SE
(AZSEY, ALV.XE).
The U.S. government-related holdings include Treasury bonds,
Treasury inflation-protected securities, U.S. agency debt and
interest-rate derivatives. The category is a loose proxy for Mr.
Gross's appetite for U.S. government debt.
The move came as U.S. Treasury bonds posted a monthly price gain
in October. Treasury bonds handed investors a total return of 0.48%
in October, according to data from Barclays.
In the meantime, Mr. Gross cut exposure to U.S. mortgage-backed
bonds to 34% in October, compared to 35% in September, according to
Pimco.
Holdings of U.S. corporate bonds, including both
investment-grade and high-yield, high-risk segments, were 10% in
October, up from 9% in September.
The nondollar developed-country bonds holdings was 4% in
October, the same as in September. The category includes sovereign
bonds sold by the euro zone countries, the U.K. and Canada.
Emerging-market debt holdings were 6% last month, the same as in
September. Money market and cash equivalents--or cash
holdings--were 4% last month, compared to 6% in September.
The Pimco fund handed investors a gain of 0.93% in total return
in October, outpacing 0.81% from the benchmark Barclays US
Aggregate Bond Index, according to Morningstar.
The fund remains down for the year, with a loss of 1.45% as of
Monday, compared to a loss of 1.89% on the benchmark index,
according to Morningstar.
Write to Min Zeng at min.zeng@wsj.com
