Institutional buyers have no more appetite for the debt or preferred equity of financial companies, the manager of the world's biggest bond fund said in an interview with CNBC's Erin Burnett. Bill Gross, who manages the $130 billion Pimco Total Return Bond Fund, added that he didn't expect retail investors had very many funds left to make further investments either.
After the interview Jim Cramer and Burnett speculated that Gross was trying to force the hand of Hank Paulson, who was authorized by Congress to use federal money to bail out government chartered mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac but has held back. If Fannie, Freddie and other financial institutions find themselves unable to raise money, the Treasury may believe it has to begin the bailout.
Gross this morning called for an even broader bailout of the housing market, calling on the Treasury to use funds to bail out mortgages as well as financial companies. And he seems to be betting on that bailout, saying that Pimco finds distressed mortgages an attractive investment.
Combined with word from HSBC that wealthy individuals are moving into cash and away from both stocks and bonds, this could put enormous pressure on the Treasury to act. Paulson colorfully explained that the authority to bail out Fannie and Freddie could be enough to forestall their collapse by saying that if you carry a pistol you might have to use it but if you carry a bazooka you probably won't.
Gross seems to be saying that it's time to take out that bazooka.
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