Schneider joined Pimco in 2008 after helping managed fixed- income liquidity programs at Bear Stearns Cos. for 13 years. He also helps decide where to invest Pimco’s short-term cash, levels of which fluctuate depending in part on client redemptions. The firm oversees $1.43 trillion.

Pimco faced growing outflows after co-founder Bill Gross was ousted in 2014. Withdrawals from the Total Return Fund, which Gross managed, reached over $200 billion relative to the peak in assets in 2013. The exodus diminished in recent months as performance improved -- the fund beat 87 percent of peers in 2015 by gaining 0.7 percent.

Schneider credited his fund’s outperformance in part to a focus on short-term, high-quality company securities as well as government debt of the U.S. and other nations. The fund has about 74 percent of assets in short-term corporate obligations, including those of ConAgra Foods Inc. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc., on the view that U.S. economic growth will be robust enough to help earnings.

Policy Guidepost

“One of the key guideposts for us was understanding central bank policies, not only in the U.S. but globally,” Schneider said. “It’s not an everyday occurrence that a manager gets a pat on the back for preserving one’s capital with a little income.”

In December, policy makers projected that steady economic improvement would enable the Fed to follow its first rate increase in almost a decade with four more this year. Signs of cooling economic growth, along with declines in oil and stocks to start the year, have cast doubt on that prediction.

Traders see less than a 50 percent chance that the Fed will raise rates at all in 2016. That’s assuming the central bank raises its target range by a quarter-point again, following liftoff from near zero in December. Fed Vice Chair Stanley Fischer said this week that policy makers are undecided about what to do next after the recent turmoil in financial markets.

Investors shouldn’t expect much from Treasury bills this year as demand related to regulatory changes will cap rates despite Fed tightening and increased supply, Schneider said. One-month Treasury bills traded at 0.26 percent Wednesday, up 0.12 percentage point since the Fed lifted its benchmark Dec. 16.

“There is a great structural demand for Treasury bills,” said Schneider, who took over the fund in 2010. “That will not only be a challenge for the Fed in making sure that money market rates go higher, but also for investors who are looking for options to preserve capital.”

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