Investors in the USA have become a skittish bunch. Of course, the little guy, the "Mom and Pops" have long abandoned stocks, going back to 2008 when many stocks went south taking the small investor down with them. And we know about the middle class: it's shrinking day after day. Wages are stagnant; have been for 20+ years. Institutional investors are the heavy weights now. And they've gotten a little nervous of late. Actually, over 2014, institutional investors have made some changes, big changes.
A Case In Point
PIMCO, the California investment firm, had been riding high for years. And then, new management, and a big change. Mr. Bill Gross, one of the founding fathers, decided he had had enough. He quit; then he went to the Janus Funds. What happened next? It's called outflow. Funds move in and out of a mutual funds all the time. A fund is on a roll when funds are flowing in. Managers work overtime to place those funds to advantage. For all of 2014, investors have been running from PIMCO and its funds. Over the last year, a mutual fund record amount was withdrawn from PIMCO. More than $150 billions. Yes, Billions with a "B". How sad. Maybe the big German company, Allianz, can come up with a plan to stem the outflow, maybe not. Maybe they'll decide it's no longer worth the headache. We didn't like Bill Gross and his big ego anyway. So, Allianz gets stung again in the good ol' US of A. Gee, can't a guy make profit anymore? Back to the drawing board.
And Allianz, more executive meetings; more decisions, more economic pain.
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