Measuring Bond Mutual Fund Performance with Portfolio Characteristics
Speaker
Abstract
| Employing a novel data set of portfolio weights from 1997 to 2006, the performance of taxable bond mutual funds is studied. The timing ability of fund managers is examined considering different asset allocation choices such as asset class, credit quality allocation, and portfolio maturity decisions. I show that active managers engage in strategies of rotating their portfolios across fixed-income sectors and bond characteristics. Some bond funds exhibit successful timing ability by adopting these strategies. Comparing fund returns plus expenses and transaction costs with the returns of a portfolio that is invested in the previously disclosed holdings, I document that active managers exhibit some ability to select securities that deliver better returns than the securities in the indices. In particular, on average, active managers generate gross returns of 1% per annum over the benchmark portfolio constructed using past holdings. This is approximately enough to cover expenses and transaction costs. Using portfolio data therefore reveals a more optimistic picture of active bond portfolio management, relative to the findings in the existing literature. |
| Contact information: |
| Myra Lissenberg |
