Templeton Global Bond is among the boldest entrants in the global bond Morningstar category. Its emerging-markets-heavy profile has caused it to move in sync with riskier assets (for the worse in 2011's and 2015’s challenging markets) and sport one of the highest correlations to equities in the group. And its shorts on the yen and euro are a significant drag when those currencies strengthen against the US dollar. However, manager Michael Hasenstab's investment themes and shrewd bond and currency selection have led to topnotch long-term results.
The fund has almost no exposure to the debt of the United States, eurozone, and Japan, which dominate most peers’ portfolios. It also stands out for its significant, longtime bets against the euro and yen, which Hasenstab believes are set to weaken on the back of further quantitative easing. Instead, he has preferred emerging-markets issues and currencies (roughly two thirds of debt exposure and 80% of currency exposure as of March 2016) given what he views as those countries' better fiscal prospects. Those levels jumped by roughly 10 percentage points from one year earlier as he raised exposure to Mexico and Brazil in 2015's third-quarter emerging-markets sell-off. Otherwise he continues to emphasize well-run economies with direct exposure to China, such as Indonesia and South Korea. While the fund courts ample currency and emerging-markets risk, it has shied away from interest-rate risk for years, as Hasenstab fears global inflation pressures could lead to permanent loss of capital.
Long-term investors have had to endure many jolts caused by currency swings and emerging-markets sell-offs, but Hasenstab's patience has made the extra volatility worthwhile. The fund’s 10-year 6% annualized gain (in USD) through April 2016 outpaces its peers as well as its benchmark index. We don't like the high fees charged by this European-domiciled fund. But the manager’s experience, a skilled and generally stable analyst bench, and the fund’s consistent approach earn a Morningstar Analyst Rating of Silver.