Bond Fund Outflows Extend to Week 15

Outflows from municipal bond mutual funds continued into a 15th straight week, with withdrawals in the period ended Sept. 4 amounting to $1.31 billion, according to Lipper FMI data.

In the past 15 weeks, municipal bond funds reporting weekly have lost a total of $24.6 billion. The most recent loss was  smaller than the previous week’s $1.74 billion,  the second time outflows have slowed since an exodus of $2.14 billion in the week ended Aug. 21.

High-yield  municipal outflows were also pared this week, with $266 million of losses, compared with $336 million in the previous week.

Long-term bond funds reporting weekly saw $943 million of withdrawals, the first weekly pull of less than $1 billion since the week ended Aug. 14.

Total assets in municipal funds that report their flows weekly dipped to $282 billion from $284 billion in the previous week, extending a decline in assets that began in the week ended July 3. The value of the holdings in those funds fell $596 million, compared with a $621 million decline in the week ended Aug. 28.

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