BlackRock global fixed income CIO Rick Rieder said Friday that this year's bond market volatility has created opportunities to buy high quality yields on the cheap. The result is his new fund outperforming some of the biggest bond ETFs during the most recent sell-off. The BlackRock Flexible Income ETF , managed by Rieder, has dipped less than 1% on a total return basis over the past month even as interest rates have soared. That compares to a drop of 2.5% in the far larger iShares Core U.S.
mountain BlackRock's BINC has held up better than major bond ETFs over the past month. Rieder said his fund's focus on shorter-term bonds has allowed it avoid some of the swings caused by the recent moves in interest rates, which have been more dramatic at the long end of the yield curve. "We've got an environment for fixed income where you can create a lot of yield, and you don't have to get the yield the traditional ways that you use to.
which launched in May, has more than $150 million in assets under management. It has a 30-day SEC yield of 5.75%, an average yield to maturity of 7.31% and a net expense ratio of 0.40%. The fund pays distributions on monthly basis, and has a total return of 1% since it debuted.