10 Questions With Bond Guru Bill Gross

It's a fine time to talk about bonds. And you can't talk about bonds without talking about Bill Gross.

There's little doubt that bond buyers have been faced with a slew of unusual circumstances as of late, from the company-specific (such as blowups in the telecommunications and energy sectors) to the macroeconomic (the threat of rising inflation, a declining dollar and the expectation that stocks won't return any more than bonds in the near term). Few portfolio managers are better suited to evaluate the landscape than Bill Gross, the chief investment officer of Pacific Investment Management Company (better known as Pimco). Gross manages Pimco's $260 billion portfolio, including the (PTTAX Quote)Total Return Fund , which, at $53 billion, is the largest bond mutual fund in the U.S.

The fund's success is well-known. It boasts an 11.25% return in the past 12 months, beating 97% of its peers, according to Morningstar. The fund's three- and five-year annualized returns -- 8.16% and 7.98%, respectively -- put it in the top 5% of the intermediate bond funds category. Indeed, the fund hasn't been hindered by its size. ...