Fixed Income
Individual mutual fund portfolios that allow you to construct a unique asset allocation strategy
If you prefer to construct your own asset allocation, or supplement other options, you may select among the following fixed income/commodity funds:
Fixed Income |
PIMCO Real Return |
PIMCO Real Return Fund (PRRIX)
Investment Objective and Principal Strategies
The fund's investment objective is maximum real return, consistent with preservation of capital and prudent investment management. The Fund seeks its investment objective by investing under normal circumstances at least 80% of its net assets in inflation-indexed bonds of varying maturities issued by the U.S. and non-U.S. governments, their agencies or instrumentalities, and corporations, which may be represented by forwards or derivatives such as options, futures contracts or swap agreements. Assets not invested in inflation-indexed bonds may be invested in other types of Fixed Income Instruments. “Fixed Income Instruments” include bonds, debt securities and other similar instruments issued by various U.S. and non-U.S. public- or private-sector entities. Inflation-indexed bonds are fixed income securities that are structured to provide protection against inflation. The value of the bond’s principal or the interest income paid on the bond is adjusted to track changes in an official inflation measure. The U.S. Treasury uses the Consumer Price Index for Urban Consumers as the inflation measure. Inflation-indexed bonds issued by a foreign government are generally adjusted to reflect a comparable inflation index, calculated by that government. “Real return” equals total return less the estimated cost of inflation, which is typically measured by the change in an official inflation measure. Additionally, “real yield” equals “nominal yield” less the market implied rate of inflation, and “nominal yield” is the interest rate that an issuer has promised to pay on an instrument that is not an inflation-linked instrument.
Duration is a measure used to determine the sensitivity of a security’s price to changes in interest rates. The longer a security’s duration, the more sensitive it will be to changes in interest rates. Effective duration, the most common method of calculating duration, takes into account that for certain bonds expected cash flows will fluctuate as interest rates change and is defined in nominal yield terms, which is market convention for most bond investors and managers. Because market convention for bonds is to use nominal yields to measure effective duration, effective duration for real return bonds, which are based on real yields, are converted through a conversion factor. The resulting nominal effective duration typically can range from 20% and 90% of the respective real effective duration. All security holdings will be measured in nominal effective duration terms. Similarly, the effective duration of the Bloomberg Barclays U.S. TIPS Index will be calculated using the same conversion factors. The effective duration of this Fund normally varies within three years (plus or minus) of the effective duration of the securities comprising the Bloomberg Barclays U.S. TIPS Index, as calculated by PIMCO, which as of May 31, 2020 was 7.84 years.
The Fund invests primarily in investment grade securities, but may invest up to 10% of its total assets in high yield securities (“junk bonds”) rated B or higher by Moody’s Investors Service, Inc. (“Moody’s”), or equivalently rated by Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services (“S&P”) or Fitch, Inc. (“Fitch”), or, if unrated, determined by PIMCO to be of comparable quality (except that within such 10% limitation, the Fund may invest in mortgage-related securities rated below B). In the event that ratings services assign different ratings to the same security, PIMCO will use the highest rating as the credit rating for that security.
The Fund also may invest up to 30% of its total assets in securities denominated in foreign currencies, and may invest beyond this limit in U.S. dollar denominated securities of foreign issuers. The Fund may invest up to 10% of its total assets in securities and instruments that are economically tied to emerging market countries (this limitation does not apply to investment grade sovereign debt denominated in the local currency with less than 1 year remaining to maturity, which means the Fund may invest, together with any other investments denominated in foreign currencies, up to 30% of its total assets in such instruments).The Fund will normally limit its foreign currency exposure (from non-U.S. dollar-denominated securities or currencies) to 20% of its total assets.
The Fund may invest, without limitation, in derivative instruments, such as options, futures contracts or swap agreements, or in mortgage- or asset backed securities, subject to applicable law and any other restrictions described in the Fund’s prospectus or Statement of Additional Information (the “SAI”). The Fund may purchase or sell securities on a when-issued, delayed delivery or forward commitment basis and may engage in short sales. The Fund may, without limitation, seek to obtain market exposure to the securities in which it primarily invests by entering into a series of purchase and sale contracts or by using other investment techniques (such as buy backs or dollar rolls). The Fund may also invest up to 10% of its total assets in preferred securities.
Principal Risks
The principal risks of investing in the Fund, which could adversely affect its net asset value, yield and total return, are interest rate risk, call risk, credit risk, high yield risk, market risk, issuer risk, liquidity risk, derivatives risk, equity risk, mortgage-related and other asset-backed securities risk, foreign (non-U.S.) investment risk, emerging markets risk, sovereign debt risk, currency risk, leveraging risk, management risk, inflation-indexed security risk and short exposure risk.