Recession is Over: Loomis Sayles’ Dan Fuss

The recession is over, Loomis Sayles’ Dan Fuss told Reuters.

Without specifying why he is so optimistic at a time when most asset management executives are still debating when the market will bottom, the bond fund manager hedged his proclamation by saying he didn’t think the recovery would fully take shape until two years from now, in 2011.

Altogether, investors will have “lost four years,” he said, adding that is better than the “lost decade” some feared. Still, Fuss is being careful about his risk exposure, having pared back U.S. equity positions in his global markets fund to around 50% from 62% due to the recent rally.

Because the economy will take so long to fully recover, Fuss also believes the Federal Reserve will keep interest rates low until 2011. Fuss applauded that and other actions of the Fed, most notably the Term Asset-Backed Loan Facility (TALF) as reviving “markets that were seizing up.”

Fuss is currently bullish on emerging markets, financial and energy stocks. Certainly, his funds are doing well this year; the $15.5 billion Loomis Sayles Bond Fund is up 16.4% year to date through June 10, outperforming 84% of its peers.