Gross apologises for 'stinker' of a year

PIMCO's Bill Gross, manager of the world's biggest bond fund, has apologised to his investors for a "stinker" of a year after failing to anticipate the fear driving markets since the summer.

His flagship $242bn (£153bn) Total Return Fund is trailing most rivals after he cut holdings of US government bonds in February, reports the Telegraph.

Since then, government bonds prices in the US and elsewhere have reached record highs. US treasuries returned almost 7% to investors over the summer in their strongest quarter since the end of 2008.

"There is no quit in me or anyone else on the PIMCO premises," Gross wrote to investors.

"The early morning and even midnight hours have gone up, not down, to match the increasing complexity of global financial markets."

"As Europe's crisis and the US debt ceiling debacle turned developed economies towards a potential recession, the Total Return fund had too little risk off and too much risk on," Gross told investors.

The Total Return fund has returned 1.3% so far this year and trails more than 82% of rivals. For the last five years however, the fund has outperformed 97% of competitors.

"So where do we go from here?" wrote Gross. "Our internal growth forecast for developed economies is now 0% over the coming several quarters and the portfolio more accurately reflects this posture."