Hillary Flynn

Municipal funds reported outflows for the second week in a row after six-straight weeks of inflows.

Municipal bond sales declined 16% in March, a drop that would have been steeper had Puerto Rico not come to market with its general obligation bonds during the month.

The six-week streak of municipal bond fund inflows has ended as concern over rising interest rates weighed on the market.

Municipal strategists are recommending non-traditional ways to manage the risk of rising interest rates after a surge in the price of short term bonds.

Municipal mutual funds reported inflows slowed to $107.3 million in the week ended March 20 from $223.8 million of inflows the week before. Assets of all weekly reporting municipal funds increased to $282.32 billion from $282.2 billion, Lipper FMI reported.

Municipal bond funds' inflows more than doubled for the week ending March 13, surging to $223.79 million from $99.48 million the week before.

Patton Boggs has hired Linda D'Onofrio as a public finance and tax capabilities partner to its New York office, adding a tax specialist to its new public finance team.

Some muni strategists are saying investors should look to intermediate and longer term bonds to mitigate interest rate risk, as rising prices for short-term bonds begin to outweigh the protection their maturities offer.

ETFs and mutual funds are well-positioned for rising interest rates because they have most of their fixed income holdings in short-term government bonds, according to Morningstar Inc.