Wednesday, January 22, 2014

The big score

From the Wall Street Journal Moneybeat blog, a post about the rising personalities at the Pimco bond fund in the wake of Mohamed El-Erian's departure as CEO --

Deputy CIO [chief investment officer]: Andrew Balls is currently a managing director in the firm’s London office, a member of the investment committee and head of European Portfolio Management. He leads Pimco’s European investment team (which is based in London and Munich) and manages a range of global and European portfolios, including Pimco’s Global Advantage strategy, combining developed and emerging fixed income markets. ... Mr. Balls has often been the public face for Pimco’s views on the European debt crisis as head of the firm’s European portfolio management. Prior to joining Pimco in 2006, Mr. Balls worked for eight years at the Financial Times as an economics correspondent and a columnist in London, New York and Washington, DC

One wonders how much business and economics journalism is coloured by the prospect that one day, the scribe could inside the speculative finance matrix?

Also too, Andrew Balls is the brother of Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls. Potential for some awkward family get-together conversations in the future.