Heavy Inflows Roll into Muni Bond Funds

Municipal bond mutual funds saw $820 million in inflows into funds that report their flows weekly for the week ended Sept. 12.

There were net inflows of $260 million in the week ended Sept. 5, Lipper FMI numbers show.

For perspective, muni bond funds have seen inflows for 22 straight weeks. And there have now been positive flows to muni bond funds for 51 of the past 54 weeks.

Demand for fund shares remains robust as the tax-exempt new-issue market has seen a third straight week of particularly light volume. Muni yields narrowly outperformed those of Treasuries on the week from the belly of the curve on out.

Still, it was not a strong week for the market, as both munis and Treasuries weakened over the period. Largely, though, market participants noted a week of light activity in primary and secondary markets.

Assets for all muni funds that report their flows weekly fell for a second straight week, to $308.6 billion from $309.3 billion the week before.

The value of the holdings for weekly reporting funds plunged by $752 million. The week before, they leapt by $726 million.

The four-week moving average for all municipal bond mutual funds that report their flows weekly saw $532 million of inflows, falling slightly from a $568 million gain the week before.

Long-term bond funds that report their flows weekly saw inflows to the tune of $298 million, more than doubling from $124 million the week before.

High-yield muni funds also saw inflows. Flows have been positive for 24 consecutive weeks, and 38 of the previous 39 weeks.

High-yield funds that report weekly saw $112 million in inflows, Lipper said. The previous week, they reported $124 million in inflows.

Assets for high-yield funds that report their flows weekly increased to $41.92 billion, up from $41.74 billion the week before.

The value of the holdings for weekly reporting high-yield funds fell by $78 million. Last week, they increased by $165 million.

The four-week moving average for all high-yield municipal bond funds that report their flows weekly was $139 million of inflows, down from $171 million the week before.

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