sábado, 29 de junio de 2013

sábado, junio 29, 2013

June 27, 2013 11:18 pm
 
Investors pull $8.6bn from US bond funds
 
Bruised by the first widespread losses for bondholders, investors pulled $8.6bn from US bond funds in the last week, contributing to the worst four-week streak since the depths of the financial crisis.

The latest outflow takes the four-week total for withdrawals to $23.7bn, and marks the worst month of outflows since October 2008 when investors yanked a record $44bn from bonds, according to research group Lipper.

Investment managers are closely watching the flow data for signs of withdrawals rising, which would force managers to sell assets and place further pressure on bond prices.

Retail investors will return from the US Independence Day holiday next week to open brokerage statements for the second quarter that will show losses for the majority of bond funds.

“We’ve become very focused on what happens in mid-July,” said Peter Fisher, senior director of the BlackRock Investment Institute.

The market is also wary of a robust employment report at the end of next week, which will probably determine whether the Federal Reserve seeks to reduce some of its bond buying under quantitative easing later this summer.

So far this year four-fifths of 5,528 US bond funds tracked by Lipper have lost money for investors.

Rates are higher, spreads are higher, volatility is higher, it’s a very difficult environment if you’re a bond manager,” said Stephen Walsh, chief investment officer for Western Asset Management.

Since the start of May, benchmark Treasury yields have risen from 1.68 to 2.48 per cent on Thursday. However, the rise is widely viewed as representing an over-reaction to any reduction in Fed support, and so further outflows are seen as a wild card.

Gene Tannuzzo, portfolio manager at Columbia Management, said: “This sell-off has been about liquidity [QE] and not fundamentals. The Fed is still accommodative and inflation is low, a good backdrop for credit and high yield.”

Bond fund withdrawals have accelerated since Ben Bernanke, Fed chairman, told Congress on May 22 that a strengthening economy may prompt fewer bond purchases, prompting prices for government bonds to fall.
 
In the past four weeks, outflows from US high-yield mutual funds and exchange traded funds have totalled $11.4bn, according to the research group, and redemptions have dominated the market for exchange traded funds that have been very popular in recent years among retail and institutional investors.

So far this year, investors have pulled $5bn out of the two major exchange traded funds that track high-yield bonds, according to Index Universe. The iShares ETF for US investment grade corporate bonds has experienced an outflow of $4.4bn this year, after inflows of $6.9bn in 2012.



Additional reporting by Vivianne Rodrigues

 
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2013.

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