A day after it was revealed the Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating pricing practices at the PIMCO Total Return ETF (NYSEArca: BOND), ETF version of the storied Total Return mutual fund is again showing no signs of unusual trading activity except above-average volume.
For the second consecutive day, BOND, the second-largest U.S. actively managed ETF behind its family member, the PIMCO Enhanced Short Maturity ETF (NYSEArca: MINT), surpassed its average daily turnover with several hours remaining in U.S. trading.
On Wednesday, shares of BOND, managed by PIMCO founder, Managing Director and Chief Investment Officer Bill Gross, closed at $108.75, a slight discount to the ETF’s net asset value of $108.89, according to issuer data.
BOND’s “shares closed above their net asset value 69 percent of the time since June. The biggest premium, 0.37 percent, occurred on Aug. 1,” reports David Wilson for Bloomberg.
Late Tuesday, the Wall Street Journal reported the SEC is probing PIMCO regarding pricing issues at BOND that potentially could have inflated returns advertised to prospective investors. However, the Journal also acknowledged “It isn’t clear any of the actions by Pimco that are being examined are improper. It can be difficult to ascertain proper valuations in the debt markets, especially for bonds that are relatively small in dollar terms or don’t trade frequently.”
PIMCO told various news outlets it is cooperating with the SEC probe and that’s pricing procedures keep with industry-wide best practices.