Podcast Center
Video Center
Webcasts
Resource Center
Events
May 05, 2004 at 08:00 PM
April 29, 2004 — Inflation seems to be gathering steam. So what better time could there be for buying bonds that provide a hedge against rising prices?
Actually, these investments, called Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities, or TIPS, might have made more sense a year ago, when their prices were lower, some money managers say. But they’re still attractive now, they maintain.
Unlike conventional U.S. Treasury bonds, the principal on TIPS is periodically adjusted for changes in the inflation rate, so what investors receive in interest changes, but the face value of the bond at maturity does not. TIPS can be purchased individually from the Treasury. Investors can also own them through mutual funds.
TIPS funds have proven popular with investors since the securities were introduced seven years ago. The number of funds increased to 17 from four between 1997 and 2003, according to Financial Research Corp. Most recently, the Inflation Protection Securities Fund was introduced by American Express’s AXP fund family in March.
The funds have taken in money each year they have been around, although inflows have risen and fallen. Investments peaked at about $4 billion in 2002 before easing to $3.75 billion last year, FRC data shows. This year, the funds had netted $1.5 billion through February.
But as TIPS have become more popular, their prices have risen to the point where some portfolio managers think regular Treasuries are an equally good investment, although not necessarily a better one.
The difference in yield between a 10-year TIPS note and a regular 10-year Treasury note is about 2.5 percentage points. That implies that inflation will average 2.5% for the next decade. But inflation has been increasing at a 1.7% annual rate of late, so investors are paying a premium for inflation insurance.
Casey Colton, lead manager of the $600 million American Century Cap Value/Inv (ACTIX), thinks yield spreads a year ago made Treasuries less appealing than they are currently.
“Now that we’re starting to see some of the signs that inflation is picking up, in my opinion, short-term, a lot of the value of TIPS is reflected in their price currently,” says Daniel Shackelford, who manages the $45 million T Rowe Price Inflation Protection (PRIPX).
Over the long term, however, Shackelford thinks investors should allocate part of their assets to TIPS funds because they provide inflation protection, among other things.
Other fund managers had a more optimistic outlook for TIPS in the near term.
Kenneth Volpert, who helps run the $6.4 billion Vanguard Inflation Protected Securities (VIPSX), argues that if inflation is gathering momentum, this is the “best time” to buy TIPS funds because of their inflation hedging properties. If inflation increases at a 2.5% rate for ten years, then TIPS prices do not seem “unreasonable,” he says.
