Bond King Says Forget QE, Watch This Instead

Pimco CEO Bill Gross isn’t too worried about when the Fed will actually begin tapering its quantitative-easing (QE) program. That’s because there’s another, more important, indicator for him that will help guide his investments: the federal funds rate or the rate at which banks lend money to each other overnight. Gross claims it’s the de facto tool of choice for the Federal Reserve, once QE begins to wind down. For him, once QE is tapered, and eventually ended, there will be enough liquidity and certainty in the markets that the projected 1 percent rise in the federal funds rate in 2015 and 2016 won’t happen. That’s why his $250 billion Total Return Fund is long bonds and why you may want to be long in bonds, too.