Bill Gross’s Pimco Total Return Fund, the world’s largest mutual fund, had $9.9 billion in net redemptions last month as investors fled bonds in anticipation the Federal Reserve will scale back its purchases.
Newport Beach, California-based Pacific Investment Management Co., which runs the fund, provided the preliminary estimate to Morningstar Inc., the Chicago-based research firm said today in an e-mailed statement. The withdrawals left the fund with $268 billion in assets at the end of June, Morningstar said.
Bond funds experienced redemptions in June after Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke told Congress on May 22 that the central bank could start reducing its bond purchases in “its next few meetings,” if the U.S. employment outlook shows sustained improvement. Bernanke told reporters in Washington June 19 that the Fed is prepared to begin phasing out bond buying later this year and halt purchases around mid-2014 as long as the economy meets its forecast.
Pimco Total Return lost 2.9 percent this year, trailing 87 percent of peers, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. It fell 2.5 percent over the past month, worse than 92 percent of comparable funds.