How is Bill Gross' ETF business doing? It all depends on how you look at it.

If you look at Pimco [profile] Total Return ETF, it lost assets last month, yet Pimco gained ETF assets firm wide, IndexUniverse's Olly Ludwig writes.

Total Return ETF had more than $550 million in outflows in June and $147 million in redemptions in July, but Pimco's aggregate ETFs brought in $831 million, Ludwig points out. What is the reason for the disconnect? Brand loyalty, Ludwig's sources say, because some flows stayed in the firm, moving to short-duration funds.

Ludwig spoke to Nicolaus Colas, the chief marketing strategist with ConvergEx Group, whom he quotes as saying, "How do you build a brand around products or the firm in such a way that when clients move assets around you can hold onto the assets?" Ludwig writes that Colas suggested these asset flows show that Pimco's brand may be strong enough on its own, though he says it's still early to make a definitive claim out of his theory.

Ludwig said Pimco Enhanced Short Maturity Strategy Fund could have attracted some of the flows Pimco Total Return ETF lost.

To read more, click here. 

Edited by: Casey Quinlan


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