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A Macro-Driven Core Bond Fund

A Macro-Driven Core Bond Fund

Cara Esser: BlackRock Total Return is run by an experienced management team with the full backing of BlackRock's entire fixed-income platform. Comanagers Rick Rieder and Bob Miller set the tone for this core bond fund from the top down. The rely on the firm's sector teams to make individual security selections. This is a macro-driven fund, so turnover tends to be quite high, and future returns depend on the managers' ability predict macro trends and position the portfolio accordingly.

So far, the team has done this well. The fund's three- and five-year returns were in the top decile as of Dec. 31, and the fund finished 2016 in the category's top half. That said, returns can be volatile, and the fund's standard deviation tends to be higher than the category average.

BlackRock recently made a concerted effort to lower fees on this fund, and it now ranks among the category's cheapest. In all, the fund earns a Morningstar Analyst Rating of Silver.

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About the Author

Cara Esser

Senior Analyst, Active Strategies

Cara Esser, CFA, is an associate director, for Morningstar Research Services LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Morningstar, Inc. Esser specializes in fixed income offerings from BlackRock, JPMorgan, T. Rowe Price, and Dodge & Cox.

Before assuming her current role in 2017, Esser was a senior analyst covering a range of fixed income strategies and led the firm’s closed-end fund research efforts. Before joining Morningstar in 2010, Esser was an associate financial analyst for the American Association of Individual Investors, a non-profit investor education organization.

Esser holds a bachelor’s degree in finance and banking from the University of Missouri, Columbia and a master's degree in business administration from DePaul's Kellstadt Graduate School of Business. She also holds the Chartered Financial Analyst® designation.

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