Bill Gross' comments (the part that you care about)

From his letter (cutting out all the usual B.S.), here's the conclusion:

This leads me to #3 on my list of action plans. What should an investor do – desperately trying to avoid the Old Maids, yet trapped with good Treasury cards at yields inappropriately low in a mildly inflationary future environment? The answer lies in managing a transition to riskier assets while being acutely aware, as my CIO partner Mohamed El-Erian is quick to point out, that such a transition will be characterized by technical purges of Old Maid and even higher quality assets that in many cases produce price levels significantly below what might at first seem reasonable. Minsky moments – the unwinding of levered assets – produce as many surprises on the downside as do $5 million dollar homes in Silicon Valley and NASDAQ 5,000 point stocks on the upside. Patience and cognizance of flows, El-Erian counsels, are as critical to the equation as is the recognition of the Old Maids in the first place.

Still, we would both agree that value is returning to many parts of the bond market. If an investor requires 5%+ yields to compensate for future inflation, then they can increasingly be found in authentic AAA assets – not disguised Old Maids. There’s not a hint of plastic surgery in agency-backed FNMA and FHLMC mortgages at 5¾%, although their actual ages (average lives) may be somewhat in doubt. Similarly, SBA government-guaranteed loans at LIBOR+ 125 basis point yields are beginning to entice, as are some of those bank loans when priced in the high 80s as opposed to 95 cents on the dollar. If capitalism is a going enterprise – and we think it is – then investors will eventually return to play similar, perhaps more conservative games – much as they have in the past. And if Washington gets off its high “moral hazard” horse and moves to support housing prices, investors will return in a rush. PIMCO wants to sit at this more attractive return table – to provide an attractive return on your money (no matter what the asset class) as well as a return of your money. No Old Maids. No silicone AAA ratings. And ladies – no crotchety old bachelors either. The game, as well as the name of the game, is changing. It’s no country for Old Maids anymore.

William H. Gross

Managing Director