Gross Reduces U.S. Debt for First Time Since January
May 11 (Bloomberg) — Bill Gross, manager of Pacific Investment Management Co.’s $150 billion Total Return Fund, reduced his holdings of U.S. government-related debt last month for the first time since January.
Pimco’s founder and co-chief investment officer cut the holdings to 26 percent in April from 28 percent in March, according to the Newport Beach, California-based company’s Web site. In addition to Treasuries, the government debt category can include inflation-linked Treasuries, so-called agency debt, interest-rate derivatives and bank debt backed by the FDIC.
Gross’ holdings of government debt in March were the most since April 2007 as he advised investors to favor debt of agencies such as Fannie Mae that have U.S. government guarantees. Gross has counseled favoring stable income over speculative growth, saying 2009 marks a “demarcation” in economic policy under the administration of President Barack Obama.
This year “represents the beginning of government policy counterpunching,” Gross wrote in his May investment outlook posted May 4 on Pimco’s Web site. “Asset values should be negatively affected.”
While the government debt category includes Treasuries, Gross has said that Pimco isn’t interested in buying them. Gross held about $4 billion in Treasuries in the fund at the end of March, or about 2.8 percent of the total, Mark Porterfield, a Pimco spokesman, said in an e-mail April 13. That was about the same as at the end of February, he wrote.
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