By Jennifer Ablan
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Investors pulled $1.57 million in February from the Janus Global Unconstrained Bond Fund run by closely followed investor Bill Gross, down from cash withdrawals of $14 million in January, Morningstar data showed on Tuesday.
The Janus Global Unconstrained Bond Fund's assets under management stood at $1.26 billion at the end of February, Morningstar said. So far this year, the fund is up 0.84 percent, compared to its non-traditional bond fund category peers which are down 0.84 percent on average.
"The fund is in the top quartile of its Lipper peer group in the past year, but it continues to struggle to gather assets despite the strong brand name of its visible portfolio manager," said Todd Rosenbluth, Director of ETF & Mutual Fund Research at S&P Global Market Intelligence.
"But active mutual funds are also under pressure from lower-cost passive alternatives."
A Janus Capital Group Inc spokeswoman declined to comment.
February was the fourth straight month of outflows from the Janus Global Unconstrained Bond Fund, Morningstar said, noting the fund attracted $6.6 million in October.
The Unconstrained Bond Fund, which Gross began managing in October 2014, holds more than $700 million of Gross's personal money.
In his latest Investment Outlook, Gross said investors should not be tempted into purchasing beaten down bank stocks against the backdrop of interest rates potentially turning negative.
Gross warned investors: "Banking/finance seems to be either a screaming sector ready to be bought or a permanently damaged victim of write-offs, tighter regulation and significantly lower future margins. I'll vote for the latter."
Gross said investors should not reach for the "tantalizing apple of high yield or the low price/book ratio of bank stocks." Those prices are where they are because of low/negative interest rates, Gross said.