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BND

Vanguard Total Bond Market ETF

5/24/2013, 7:52 AM ET

Quote & Headlines Market Currents StockTalk

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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
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, 2:51 PM Vanguard Total Bond Market ETF (BND) announces monthly distribution of $0.1619. 30-day SEC yield of 1.58% (as of 04/30/2013). For shareholders of record May 05. Payable May 07. Ex-div date May 01. (PR) Comment! [Dividends]
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]
Monday, April 1, 4:39 PM Vanguard Total Bond Market ETF (BND) announces monthly distribution of $0.1693. 30-day SEC yield of 1.67% (as of 03/28/2013). For shareholders of record Apr. 03. Payable Apr. 05. Ex-div date Apr. 01. (PR) 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!
Sunday, March 17, 4:06 AM The Treasury is investigating whether investors are accumulating government bonds in order to boost prices after $78.87B worth of 10-year notes used as collateral in repo market weren't returned to the loan counter-party on Monday. Over the week, the cost of borrowing Treasurys for use in the repo market or for short sales jumped more than three-fold, only easing after a government auction. 3 Comments [Global & FX, U.S. Economy]
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]
Monday, March 11, 4:19 PM Bill Gross cut Treasury holdings to 28% from 30% in his Total Return Fund in February, reports CNBC. He also took down his MBS holdings by a hair. Late last week, Pimco bumped its 2013 U.S. growth forecast to 3% from 1.25%-1.75% made at December's end. BOND is the ETF version of the Total Return Fund - here it is vs. AGG and BND since its April 2012 inception. Comment! [Financials]
Friday, March 8, 3:08 AM The Fed is considering abandoning its plan to eventually sell the trillions of dollars of bonds it's bought and just let them mature instead. The move would prevent the disruption of markets that might come with big sales, and it would prevent any losses if and when interest rates rise, not to mention any subsequent criticism from Capitol Hill. There might be some economic benefits too. 8 Comments [U.S. Economy]
Tuesday, March 5, 10:28 AM "Cash in the developed world is a terrible asset," writes Bridgewater in its (300-page) year-end investor note. "We would be short cash of all the major currencies," in continues - hedge fund shorthand for borrowing to buy risky assets. Previous: Ray Dalio and his co-CIO have made no secret of their bullishness this year. 1 Comment