Each state - specific category includes long, intermediate, and short
duration bond funds.
For an example of short -
duration bond funds, here are the top results for short - term bond, and ultra-short bond category funds from Fidelity's mutual fund evaluator.
Since interest rates are at historical lows, we do not recommend investing in long
duration bond funds at this time.
Each state - specific category includes long, intermediate, and short
duration bond funds.
Short
duration bond funds can help you manage the impact of interest rate changes on your portfolio.
In fact, if you don't hold bonds to maturity, you may experience similar interest - rate risk as a comparable -
duration bond fund.
The classic 10 year bond ladder, or equivalent
duration bond fund is my preference.
As there are issues with both money market funds and ultra-short term bond funds, we recommend that you chose a short - term or low -
duration bond fund for this purpose.
Symbol: VMLUX Category: Municipal Bond Fund / Short
Duration Bond Fund Style: Active LB Rating: ***** 5 Stars Last Updated: 12/18/12
The $ 100 million Nationwide Enhanced Income Fund (NMEAX) and the $ 73 million Nationwide Short
Duration Bond Fund (MCAPX) are both, simultaneously, merging into $ 300 million Nationwide Highmark Short Term Bond Fund (NWJSX).
Limited
Duration Bond Fund seeks to deliver a high level of current income consistent with low volatility of principal.
A short
duration bond fund may be a better option.
Not exact matches
But that total is dwarfed by the more than $ 1.5 trillion invested in intermediate - term portfolios (3.5 - to six - year average
duration), which include core
bond funds hewing to the Bloomberg Barclays U.S. Aggregate index.
According to Morningstar Direct, $ 59 billion is invested in long - term
bond funds and exchange - traded
funds (defined as portfolios with average
durations above six years).
Funds that own high - quality
bonds with shorter
durations, such as Fidelity Short - Term
Bond, can help reduce your portfolio's sensitivity to rising rates.
To be sure, the typical core
bond fund sports a
duration of around five years.
In order to understand the impact of longer
duration and low yields, let's use a real - life example of one of the largest
bond funds today and look back at its history.
Some of the best and most experienced investors in the world have a habit of routinely keeping 20 % of their net assets in cash and cash equivalents, often the only truly safe place for parking these
funds being a United States Treasury
bond of short -
duration held directly with the U.S. Treasury.
Therefore, if rates rise, investors in the
bond funds and ETFs will experience price declines commensurate with the
funds»
durations.
The trio of ETFs, when they launch, will round out Franklin's
bond ETF lineup, which already includes a variety of actively managed fixed - income
funds covering short -
duration U.S. government debt, municipal
bonds and the investment - grade corporate debt.
Take an intermediate
bond fund with a
duration — interest rate sensitivity — of six years.
Relative return
bond mutual
funds and ETFs tend to have fairly constant
durations.
In a
bond fund you have
bonds with different maturities, yields and
durations.
Exchange traded
funds (ETFs), such as the iShares Short Maturity
Bond ETF (NEAR), the iShares MSCI USA Quality Factor ETF (QUAL), the iShares Core Dividend Growth ETF (DGRO), and the iShares MSCI Japan ETF (EWJ), can provide access to short
duration bonds, high quality companies, and Japan.
DoubleLine
Funds for a Rising Rate Environment — Total Return
Bond & Low
Duration Emerging Markets Fixed Income
Funds
In
bonds, the Market Climate continued to be characterized by unfavorable valuations and unfavorable market action, holding the Strategic Total Return
Fund to a short 2 - year
duration, mostly in Treasury inflation protected securities.
Collins has adopted a more defensive position in the last 18 months, reducing
duration and credit risk by scaling back overweight positions in high - yield and municipal
bonds, but he's sticking with allocations to intermediate term
funds.
The Fidelity Total
Bond ETF is an actively managed broad market bond fund that uses the Barclays US Universal Bond Index to guide its sector allocation and duration expos
Bond ETF is an actively managed broad market
bond fund that uses the Barclays US Universal Bond Index to guide its sector allocation and duration expos
bond fund that uses the Barclays US Universal
Bond Index to guide its sector allocation and duration expos
Bond Index to guide its sector allocation and
duration exposure.
The PowerShares Total Return
Bond ETF is an actively managed
fund with the ability to invest in any number of fixed income securities with varying credit ratings, countries, and
durations.
Franklin Limited
Duration Income (FTF) is a closed end
fund that seeks high current income and capital appreciation through investment in high yield corporate
bonds, floating rate bank loans and mortgage and other asset backed securities.
The higher the
duration of a
bond or
fund the higher the potential for volatility in both directions when rates move.
The
fund has no targeted maturity, but does target a
duration within 10 % of the Bloomberg Barclays U.S. Corporate Investment Grade
Bond Index, which as of the end March was 7.5 years.
In
bonds, the Market Climate remains characterized by unfavorable valuations and unfavorable yield pressures, holding the Strategic Total Return
Fund to a
duration of less than 1 year.
Characterized as an «all - weather»
bond fund by Citywire, the new vehicle is designed for investors seeking both fixed income exposure as well as enhanced
duration.
Strategic Total Return continues to carry a
duration of about 3.5 years in Treasury securities (meaning that a 100 basis point move in interest rates would be expected to impact the
Fund by about 3.5 % on the basis of
bond price fluctuations), and holds about 10 % of assets in precious metals shares, and about 5 % of assets in utility shares.
Yes the Index - linked
fund is more susceptible to interest rate risk than the regular
bond fund, but not by the nature of it being a linker, it's because the average
duration is longer.
I agree it's best to avoid
durations that are longer than your time horizon with all
bond funds but, in the case of linker
funds, your time horizon needs to be under 20 - something years.
Both of these ETFs track a traditional
bond index, and the
funds also short Treasury futures to hedge
duration risk.
For individual investors,
duration is primarily used as a measure of a
bond fund's sensitivity to prevailing interest rates.
In a recent blog, WisdomTree, the issuer behind these
funds, argued that negative -
duration bond ETFs are handy for investors wanting to profit from rising rates.
I don't particular like Fidelity's short
duration inflation linked
bond fund either, costs are two high and tracking is awful, not to mention the corporate and short position pollution.
I got in touch with L&G in 2014 to ask them about the average
duration of holdings in the Global Inflation Linked
Bond Index
Fund, they responded that it was 8.20.
Particularly good to see someone explain that the impact on
bond funds is not the simplistic «1 % rise in bank rates means loss of
duration %» but depends on the interest demanded at that point in the curve and normal supply / demand issues which are massively distorted for linkers.
Other factors also impact portfolio performance; most notably, the specific market segments in which it is invested —
durations of junk
bond funds will exceed
durations of treasury
funds with similar maturities.
The fidelity global inflation linked
bond fund Y has a
duration of 5.5 years which seems to be the lowest of the
funds freely available.
There certainly seems to be a gap in the market for short
duration inflation linked government
bond tracker
funds.
Given that the Market Climate in
bonds continues to be characterized by unfavorable valuations and unfavorable market action, the Strategic Total Return
Fund continues to carry a muted
duration of about 2 years, mostly in Treasury Inflation Protected Securities.
In the case of
bond tracker
funds, the
duration is held roughly steady.
«If you're referring to the Slow & Steady portfolio then I'm fine with the regular
bond fund as its
duration is below the portfolio's time horizon» TA
(
Duration could apply to a
bond fund, a
bond, or a portfolio of
bonds).