Municipal bond mutual funds got a reprieve after three weeks of increasingly large outflows, with just $1.74 billion withdrawals in the week ended Aug. 28, according to Lipper FMI numbers.
Though the loss was smaller than last week's $2.14 billion, mutual funds that report weekly are now in their 14th consecutive week of outflows. In the past 12 weeks, municipal bond funds reporting weekly have seen a total $21.5 billion exodus.
High-yield municipal outflows also showed a slowing of outflows, as investor withdrawals fell to $3.35 billion from $4.6 billion in the week ended Aug. 21.
Long-term bond funds reported withdrawals slipped to $1.25 billion from $1.48 billion last week.
Total assets in municipal funds reporting weekly flows declined to $284 billion from $286 billion the week prior, extending a decline that began in the week ended July 3. The value of the holdings of those funds fell $621 million after sliding $2.48 billion last week.
