15
Morningstar FundInvestor
September
2013
We named Laporte Morningstar’s Domestic-Stock
Fund Manager of the Year for
1995
.
Corrections
In our August cover story, we included a table of funds
with currency risk.
Tweedy Browne Global Value
TBGVX
should have been on the Low Risk side of the
table as it hedges its currency exposure. You can
see the fixed version of the August issue at
mfi.morn-
ingstar.com
on the Newsletters tab.
Also, on Page
22
, we incorrectly stated Quoc Tran’s
tenure at Weitz funds. He spent three years at Weitz,
not five as stated. We regret the errors.
Oakmark Funds Bought GM Shares
We recently learned that
Berkshire Hathaway
BRK
.A bought shares of
General Motors
GM
. Inter-
estingly, Oakmark’s managers were on the same
track. A number of the funds bought large stakes in
GM
in the second quarter.
New Guide to Fund Investing
We have updated the Guide to Fund Investing. You
can find it on
mfi.morningstar.com
. We’ve also
updated the Fund Family Reports for the third quarter.
What’s Up With PIMCO All Asset All Authority?
I’ve received a few emails asking me why
PIMCO All
Asset All Authority
PAUDX
is having a poor year.
The answer is really the same biases that clicked for
it in prior years.
Rob Arnott has been more bullish on emerging
markets than on the United States, and he’s had a fair
amount of inflation protection in the fund. So, the
formula of going short the U.S. and long emerging
markets has been a bad one this year. In addition,
commodities and Treasury Inflation-Protected Securi-
ties have been getting smacked. Finally, because
the fund invests in other
PIMCO
funds, it suffered
from the firm’s mistaken bet on long-term
TIPS
, which
bore the brunt of the recent backup in rates.
Fidelity Launching Short-Duration,
High-Yield Fund
Fidelity has filed to launch the
Fidelity Short Dura-
tion High Income
fund, which will be designed
to provide higher yields with lower interest-rate sen-
sitivity. The fund will seek to keep an average
duration—a measure of the fund’s interest-rate sen-
sitivity—of less than three years. Relative to the
broader short duration, high-yield market, the fund
will focus on higher-quality bonds—primarily those
rated
BB
or B, with a significant underweighting
to bonds rated
CCC
or lower. The fund also will invest
a smaller slug of the fund’s assets in floating-rate
securities and investment-grade corporate bonds.
Matt Conti, who heads Fidelity’s well-regarded lever-
aged-finance group, will serve as the fund’s lead
manager. Conti also manages
Fidelity Focused High
Income
FHIFX
, a portfolio dedicated to the higher-
quality end of the junk-bond sector. Michael Plage,
who comanages
Fidelity Advisor Corporate Bond
FCBAX
, will manage the new fund’s corporate-bond
sleeve. The fund is expected to launch later this year.
PIMCO to Launch Managed-Futures Fund
PIMCO
is looking to build out its lineup of alternatives
funds, and the firm has filed to launch a managed-
futures fund. The
PIMCO Trends Managed Futures
Strategy
fund will use quantitative strategies to
invest in derivatives linked to interest rates, curren-
cies, mortgages, credit, commodities, equity indexes,
and volatility-related instruments, according to a
preliminary prospectus. The firm hasn’t named the
fund’s manager or listed the fund’s expense ratio.
T. Rowe New Era Manager to Remain With Firm
T. Rowe Price announced that Tim Parker, the manager
of Neutral-rated
T. Rowe Price New Era
PRNEX
,
will remain with the firm rather than leave by the end
of September, as was previously announced in
April. However, Shawn Driscoll is still slated to take
over New Era and sector head responsibilities by
Sept.
30
.
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