The top-down investment process begins with PIMCO’s annual Secular Forum, during which the firm develops a three- to five-year outlook for the global economy and interest rates. This helps set the basic portfolio parameters, including duration, yield-curve positioning, sector weightings and credit quality. PIMCO’s municipal bond team seeks to add value in a number of ways. The team believes that investments should be made from the point of view of maximizing total return as opposed to simply reaching for maximum yield- so the portfolio is scrutinized using a process that models the potential changes in yield and price as the underlying variables of the marketplace change. Yield-to-worst measures are carefully examined, as are the impact of a shifting municipal yield curve and the influence of yield volatility and credit shifts on the portfolio.
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