Our Favorite Commodity Fund Clobbers Its Index
Treasury inflation-protected securities provide a layer of protection.
Pimco CommodityRealReturn Strategy (symbol PCRDX) trounced its benchmark, the DJ-UBS Commodity index, over the past year. Manager Mihir Worah says that nearly all of the fund’s 25-percentage-point advantage is the result of the way the fund is constructed.
Pimco puts down collateral to back the futures positions it holds on the 19 commodities in the DJ-UBS index. Worah then invests most of that collateral in Treasury inflation-protected securities, to provide a second layer of inflation protection along with commodities. TIPS enjoyed a stellar 2009, and Worah, who also manages Pimco’s TIPS fund, outpaced that fund’s TIPS benchmark by ten points over the past year.
Track performance. Get updated data for the Kiplinger 25 funds.

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