Pimco cuts UK, US debt holdings

SINGAPORE: Pacific Investment Management Co (Pimco), which runs the world's biggest bond fund, is cutting holdings of US and UK debt as the two nations increase borrowing to record levels.

Pimco is "more cautious" on corporate bonds and holds fewer mortgage-backed securities than the percentages in the benchmarks it uses to gauge performance, wrote Paul McCulley, a portfolio manager and member of the investment committee, in his 2010 outlook. The company is also underweight Treasury Inflation Protected Securities, according to the report on Newport Beach, California-based Pimco's website.

"This all leaves us with portfolios that appear, more than at other times, to be hugging the benchmarks with no bold positioning," McCulley wrote. "We're making a very active decision to run light on risk."