Fund performance

Pimco is seeing unprecedented client defections from its developing-nation mutual funds as poorly timed investments and below-average returns catch up with the firm. Customers have pulled about $10 billion since the start of 2013, according to data from the fund manager.

Taking a simple approach hasn't hindered performance at Neil Hennessy's firm, which reported $5.9 billion in assets under management at the end of 2014, a 33% increase from the previous year. In the first part of a conversation with Money Management Executive, Hennessy discussed his firm's approach and why it shuns some market trends.

The SPDR DoubleLine Total Return Tactical exchange-traded fund launches today. It will be managed by Jeffrey Gundlach, who also runs the DoubleLine Total Return Bond Fund, a top-performing mutual fund. It is the 26th ETF to be launched this year, but it is possibly the most important as a test of whether active management can ever thrive inside the ETF industry.

Bill Gross’s $1.46 billion Janus Global Unconstrained Bond Fund trailed its benchmark in the fourth quarter of last year primarily because it had plowed about 5% of net assets into debt issued by U.S., Russian and Brazilian energy companies.

McCulley’s exit further reduces the ranks of Gross loyalists in the wake of his abrupt departure Sept. 26 to manage a small fund at Janus Capital Group Inc. Pimco’s new management and investment team are seeking to reassure clients after a year of record redemptions and co-chief investment officers Gross and Mohamed El-Erian left.

Mutual funds that buy loans saw $4 billion yanked last month, bringing total outflows for the 12 months ended Jan. 31 $28.7 billion, according to Morningstar data. That’s the biggest withdrawal for any U.S. debt asset class in the period.

Municipal bond sales in the U.S. are set to decrease in the next month while the amount of redemptions and maturing debt falls.

This past week, the industry saw Pimco suffer more redemptions despite the climbing performance of its Total Return Fund, a BlackRock bond ETF receiving a record $2 billion deposit, Virtus Investment Partners announced an agreement to acquire a majority interest in ETF Issuer Solutions, and a report from Cerulli Associates noting that socially responsible investing has become a frequent request of asset managers from institutional clients.

Fidelity Investments, the second-largest U.S. mutual fund company, reported a 29% increase in operating income in 2014, as growth in its retirement business and cost cutting helped offset withdrawals from its actively managed offerings.

Ballentine Partners is a wealth management firm with roots in an unusual institution: a summer camp.

The industry saw Van Eck Global sponsoring a $3M student fund and scholarship at the USC Marshall School of Business, the flagship liquid alt fund offered by IndexIQ passing the $1 billion assets mark, a survey of 235 hedge fund professionals expressing positive sentiment, and Morningstar naming its fund managers of the year.

The push to make money-market funds safer means the biggest U.S. banks will pay more to borrow while America’s near record-low financing costs go even lower.

Holdings in ETPs backed by silver fell 0.3% last month, after declining 3% in December, while gold holdings jumped 4.1% in January. Retail investors account for 80% of U.S. purchases.

Pimco’s biggest mutual fund suffered about $11.6 billion in withdrawals in January, the 21st straight month of redemptions at the investment fund created and formerly run by bond manager Bill Gross.

The ongoing, rapid growth of ETFs begs a question: is it sustainable, or will the market soon find itself in a bubble? A new global report on the ETF industry says there is little to stop its momentum.

DoubleLine Capital, the bond firm co-founded by Jeffrey Gundlach, attracted its biggest monthly subscriptions ever last month after beating peers in 2014.

The big leadership issues facing executives in the asset management industry have multiplied in just a year, one reason why attendees at the upcoming NICSA Strategic Leadership Forum in Hollywood, Fla., might be hard-pressed to agree on a common concern.

Franklin Resources, manager of the Franklin and Templeton mutual funds, said fiscal first-quarter profit fell 6.2% as investors pulled money from the firm’s best-known global bond funds.

Invesco said fourth-quarter profit rose 5.6% as client assets increased.

The bond market's main concern is the ballooning ETF industry and how it has shaken up the traditional way to buy and sell debt.