Bond Funds Turbocharge Payouts

The typical short-term taxable bond fund has lost a hard-toswallow 4% to 6% this year through September 9. Fast-climbing interest rates exacted this heavy cost, usurping two years or more of yield.

- Jeffrey R. Kosnett 

But you know that. So here's a query: What is the typical growth rate of these funds' cash distributions since just before the Federal Reserve threw the interest rate switch in March? The answer: 94%. Monthly payouts from the 10 largest such funds are riding a rocket ship, nearly doubling already, with more raises to come.

American Funds' Intermediate Bond Fund of America (symbol FIFBX), a short-term fund despite its name, tops the list with a 246% boost since early March. Annualizing its latest monthly payment works out to a 4.2% yield-about where economists and fixed-income fund managers expect the Fed to drive short-term rates over the next several months before pausing to assess the effects on the economy, inflation and investor moods.