Fixed income exchange traded funds have become the central focus of many investors, as equity markets remain volatile and big name providers are offering new products tracking this market segment. PIMCO has been given credit for bringing this market sector to the mainstream with the launch and success of the PIMCO Total Return ETF (NYSEArca: BOND).
The ETF market has been able to maintain positive momentum in spite of the deepening sovereign debt crisis in the Eurozone and growing concerns about its impact on global economic activity. The fixed income ETF market has been experiencing global inflows of $85.3 billion in 2012, up 148% since the same time last year, reports Chris Flood for Financial Times.
Money poured into fixed income ETFs last month as inflows totaled $7.5 billion in U.S. bond funds.
Don Suskind, head of global ETF product management at PIMCO, said some clients prefer to use ETFs for fixed-income investments because they offer all the benefits of trading in the equities market—intraday liquidity, efficient price discovery, and access through an exchange. All of this is in a transparent portfolio, reports James Armstrong for Trader’s Magazine. [ETFs Gather Over $4 Billion in May as Bonds Favored]
“If they have any questions about what’s in the portfolio, they can go online and download it,” Suskind said. “You can see exactly what’s in the portfolio.”