Did Pimco's Exec Pump and Dump Ginnie Maes? Not Likely

If you watch CNBC all day like we do, you may have caught a tense little segment on Tuesday's "Power Lunch," in which Bill Griffeth confronted Bill Gross about his appearance on the show two Fridays before.

Gross, managing director at Pimco, is the bond market's Peter Lynch. He manages the world's largest bond mutual fund and has one of the best long-term performance records. On his Sept. 15 "Power Lunch" appearance, he reiterated an opinion he'd been voicing for months: That Ginnie Mae mortgage pass-throughs (explained below) are going to outperform other kinds of bonds in the months ahead.

A little over a week later, BondWeek, a newsletter published by Institutional Investor, ran a story based on anonymous sources saying that on the same day Gross appeared on TV, Pimco had sold $2 billion of the securities he was recommending. The story didn't say it knew at what hour the alleged sale took place, but it did say the securities were being offered for sale before, during and after Gross's TV appearance. ...