TIAA-CREF Short-Term Bond RetailTCTRX

Morningstar Rating

Fund Research and Analysis

by Andrew Gunter

TIAA-CREF Short-Term Bond's conservatism has worked great in recent months.

Among the challenges bond managers must sometimes contend with are inflation--hurting the value of bonds because the present value of their future coupon payments declines--and credit problems. Read more

Kudos

Experienced management.

This fund's managers built a competitive record at the now-merged TIAA-CREF Short-Term Bond, especially in years when corporate bonds lagged government-backed issues. Read more

Risks

This team's conservative strategy can hold it back when the economy is strong and corporate bonds rally. That can occur for multiyear time periods, such as 2004 through 2006. Read more

Strategy

Manager John Cerra attempts to outperform the Lehman Brothers 1-5 Year Government/Credit Index through security selection and sector bets, and aims to maintain an average duration relatively close to this benchmark's. Read more

Management

This fund's lead manager is John Cerra, a TIAA-CREF bond-group veteran. In 2003, he took over responsibility for short-term fixed-income strategies from Lisa Black, currently the managing director of the fixed-income department. A seasoned team of sector specialists and credit analysts supports Cerra. Read more

Inside Scoop

This fund does not take large risks versus its benchmark, as it tries to maintain a credit profile and an interest-rate-risk profile similar to the index's. Read more

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