[disjunction]

Does anybody know what's going on with Inflation Protected bonds? A year ago or so ago I listened to the inflation hype and diverted some of my 401K to TIPS. But I also left some money in a regular "Bond Oriented" fund.

I check my fund balances every day because I'm a gambler and I have to know the score. On a good day for bonds), the Bond Oriented fund does really well (there were a lot of good days for bonds this year) and the TIPS fund goes up by about a half or a third of what the regular fund did. In October, every day that a bad inflation number would come out, the regular bond fund got hammered but the TIPS fund would also get hammered, about a third or a half as much. I would think the TIPS would break even or something. Why did TIPS do so bad in October?

I guess my question is kind of vague, since I don't have the exact numbers. But looking at these things day-to-day, I'm wondering why anybody would own TIPS. Worse case its a supply-and-demand thing, and TIPS just aren't worth what they cost.