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AGG

iShares Core Total U.S. Bond Market ETF

5/24/2013, 3:21 AM ET

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Thursday, May 9, 9:52 AM "Berkshire issuing debt is effectively an efficient way to short the bond market (AGG, BND)," says fund manager (and BRK.A, BRK.B owner) Richard Cook, following Berkshire Hathaway Finance's $1B debt offering yesterday (5-year and 30-year paper). Proceeds will be used to redeem $1B of notes maturing this month. "I feel sorry for people that have clung to fixed-dollar investments," said Buffett earlier this week. 2 Comments [Financials]
Monday, May 6, 7:47 AM More Buffett/CNBC: "Bonds (AGG, BND, TLT) are priced artificially," he says, and investors in long-term paper stand to lose a terrific amount of money. It echos weekend comments where he told Omaha concert-goers, "I feel sorry for people that have clung to fixed-dollar investments." 15 Comments
Friday, May 3, 3:13 PM "Bonds are acting like the bond market is manipulated ... because it is," says Jeff Gundlach, as QE is far more of a put on Treasury prices (TLT -2.3%) than it is on stocks. A salve to bond bulls on a day when the yield on the 30-year is 14 bps higher, Gundlach says yields won't go on a sustained rise anytime soon because QE is going nowhere. A favorite of the bond bears, TBT +4.6%. 7 Comments
Friday, May 3, 12:54 PM Stocks remain sharply higher midday (SPY +1.2%), with the year's leaders - healthcare (XLV +0.7%), utilities (XLU +0.2%), and staples (XLP +0.7%) - lagging, and the year's laggers - industrials (XLI +2.1%), tech (XLK +1.1%), and energy (XLE +1.9%) - leading. Treasurys (TLT -2.1%) are suffering one of their worst days of the year, and broader fixed income (AGG -0.3%). 1 Comment
Thursday, May 2, 7:35 AM The number of bond funds owning stocks rose to 352 in Q1, according to Morningstar, up from 312 in Q4 and the highest level in nearly 2 decades. "We believe that traditional fixed income (AGG, BND) is at a historic level of being overvalued," says Forward Management, explaining to investors why it's moved from about zero of their funds in stocks to about 50% over the last year. 5 Comments
Wednesday, May 1, 2:53 PM iShares Core Total U.S. Bond Market ETF (AGG) announces monthly distribution of $0.2015. 30-day SEC yield of 1.77% (as of 4/30/2013). For shareholders of record May 03. Payable May 07. Ex-div date May 01. Comment! [Dividends]
Tuesday, April 16, 9:25 AM There's not too many surprises in ETF action yesterday, with areas like the bond market (AGG), real estate (IYR), low volatility (SPLV), and pharmaceuticals (IHE) seeing big inflows, and small caps (IWM), energy (XLE), energy exploration (XOP), and materials (XLB) seeing a wave of cash exit. Comment!
Friday, April 12, 12:46 PM More from Gundlach: Bond indexing has been a wonderful strategy for many years, but now the well-followed indexes (BND, AGG) have too short of a duration and are overloaded with Treasurys. The value is in non-traditional sectors like emerging markets (EMB), non-agency MBS, bank loans (BKLN), and global high yield (GHYG). 4 Comments [U.S. Economy, Financials]
Friday, April 12, 12:28 PM Fixed-income may not be being given away as it was in 2010, but there's still value, says Jeff Gundlach, scoffing at talk of a bond bubble. "Raise your hand" if you own Treasurys for yourself or a client, he asked a room full of advisors (none went up). Bonds are not "over-owned" in the U.S., he says, showing cash and fixed income make up a higher percentage of household financial assets in other countries. 5 Comments [U.S. Economy]
Monday, April 8, 3:58 PM More from BlackRock's Rick Rieder (previous): He got caught wrong-footed on the yen, cutting his short bets just ahead of Thursday's BOJ announcement which sent the currency plunging. Nevertheless, he calls the BOJ program a big deal not just for Japan but as a prop to bond markets worldwide. With the Fed and BOJ buying up all in sight, fixed-income managers will be forced to widen their selection criteria. Comment! [Global & FX]
Thursday, April 4, 9:12 AM Big news for the ETF industry, Pimco's Total Return ETF (BOND) received more inflows in March than the mutual fund from which it was spawned ($263M vs. $32M) - this despite the ETF having just $4.3B in AUM vs. nearly $300B for the mutual fund. Since inception a year ago, BOND has easily outperformed both the Total Return mutual fund and its fixed-income benchmarks (AGG, BND). Comment! [Financials]
Tuesday, April 2, 12:54 PM Active management - typically a loser with stocks - worked well in fixed income in 2012, according to SPIVA which shows 70% of active managers in intermediate government bond funds beat their bogey (AGG, BNG), with the average return more than double the benchmark. Comment!
Monday, April 1, 4:53 PM iShares Core Total U.S. Bond Market ETF (AGG) announces monthly distribution of $0.260. 30-day SEC yield of 1.70% (as of 3/28/2013). For shareholders of record Apr. 03. Payable Apr. 05. Ex-div date Apr. 01. Comment! [Dividends]
Monday, April 1, 1:22 PM Princeton University's $17B endowment has moved entirely out of fixed income, instead building a 5.9% cash position due to a combination of "exceptionally low" Treasury yields, increased price risk, and decreased "insurance functionality." The fund had a tough last year, but has outperformed benchmarks handily over the last decade. Comment!
Monday, March 18, 4:57 AM Ron Rowland offers additional highlights on the recently expanded lineup of commission-free ETFs over at Fidelity including the following caveat: Funds not held for 30 days by retail investors or 60 days by RIAs using Fidelity as a custodian will be subject to a $7.95 per-trade commission. Some RIAs have complained that the longer holding period directed at them is unfair. Rowland spells out the full list of affected ETFs here. Comment!
Friday, March 15, 10:53 AM Elevated bank capital requirements mean banks are holding much lower inventories of bonds than before the financial crisis compared with mutual fund bond holdings. That’s OK while investors keep pouring money into bonds, but WSJ's Richard Barley warns if sentiment turns because investors lose confidence in central bank and government policies, "then the situation could be ugly." (also) Comment! [Financials]