TREASURIES-Bond prices dip after Gross departs Pimco for Janus

* Pimco CIO Bill Gross joins Janus Capital (NYSE: JNS - news)

* U.S. GDP, consumer sentiment data as expected (Updates prices, adds comments)

By Sam Forgione

NEW YORK, Sept 26 (Reuters) - U.S. Treasuries prices dipped Friday on news that Pimco Chief Investment Officer Bill Gross is joining rival Janus Capital Group, which spurred concerns that Pimco may have to sell Treasuries if investor redemptions at Pimco increase.

Gross, a Pimco co-founder whose $222 billion Pimco Total Return Fund is the world's biggest bond fund, will manage the recently launched Janus Global Unconstrained Bond Fund and related strategies. Analysts said traders sold Treasuries on bets investors would pull cash from Pimco.

"I think people are concerned that Pimco is going to have to liquidate, so there is some pre-selling going on ahead of the fact that they may have to do some selling," said Tom di Galoma, head of rates and credit trading at ED&F Man Capital Markets in New York.

The Pimco Total Return Fund had 41 percent of its holdings in U.S. government-related securities at the end of August, according to data on the Pimco website.

Italian and Spanish 10-year bond prices also fell after the announcement of Gross' departure on fears that Pimco, which has large investments in euro zone peripheral bonds, may change its strategy.

"This news of Gross's departure is gigantic, and the implications are enormous for bond markets around the world," said di Galoma. "Any market that he is involved in will underperform."

Separately, U.S. economic data met expectations. The Commerce Department raised its estimate of second-quarter gross domestic product to show the economy expanded at a 4.6 percent annual rate, in line with economists' expectations according to a Reuters poll.

The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan's final September reading on consumer sentiment finished at 84.6, the highest since July 2013 and just below economists' expectations for 84.7, according to a Reuters poll.

Analysts said the data led traders to redirect some cash out of safe-haven Treasuries and into U.S. stocks after Thursday's broad selloff in U.S. shares and rally in Treasuries prices.

"I think we're definitely seeing money flows coming out of bonds and going back into equities," said Kevin Giddis, head of fixed income at Raymond James in Memphis, Tennessee.

U.S. 10-year Treasury notes were last down 8/32 in price to yield 2.54 percent, from a yield of 2.51 percent late Thursday. The yield hit a session high of 2.55 percent.

U.S. 30-year Treasury bonds were last down 2/32 in price to yield 3.22 percent, unchanged from late Thursday. The yield earlier hit a session high of about 3.26 percent.

U.S. five-year Treasury notes were last down 7/32 to yield 1.81 percent, from 1.76 percent late Thursday.

On Wall Street, the benchmark S&P 500 was last up 0.33 percent. (Additional reporting by Karen Brettell; Editing by Bernadette Baum and Dan Grebler)