Muni Bond Fund Flows Trickle Out

Demand for municipal bonds fell modestly for the week of March 27. But it still fell.

Muni bond mutual funds saw outflows in weekly reporting funds for the fourth straight week, at $43 million, Lipper FMI numbers showed. For the week of March 20, the market saw outflows of $261 million.

A holiday-shortened week of holiday-shortened volume prompted more activity in the secondary and lent the market a slight tenor of strength. Muni bond yields beyond the front end of the curve fell slightly on the week from last Friday, according to Municipal Market Data numbers.

As Treasury yields fell about the same, muni ratios to them more or less hovered where they were. The 10-year danced a few ticks above 100%, the 30-year a tick below. The two-year held at 124%.

Assets for all muni funds that report their flows weekly increased for a second straight week to $326.1 billion. The week prior, they reported $325.4 billion.

The value of the holdings for weekly reporting funds rose by $260 million. The week before, they inched higher by $64 million.

The four-week moving average for all municipal bond mutual funds that report their flows weekly was $128 million of outflows, falling from $37 million in outflows the week before.

Long-term bond funds that report their flows weekly continued to see outflows at $114 million. Still, that represented a small increase from the $244 million of outflows they reported the week before.

High-yield muni funds reported inflows for the first time in four weeks. For most of 2012 and 2013, flows were and have been positive.

High-yield funds that report weekly saw $17 million in outflows, Lipper said. The previous week, they reported $37 million in outflows.

Assets for high-yield funds that report their flows weekly tumbled for the third consecutive week to $45.22 billion, down from $45.25 billion the week before.

The value of the holdings for weekly reporting high-yield funds rose by $81 million. Last week, they decreased by $863,000.

The four-week moving average for all high-yield municipal bond funds that report their flows weekly showed $26 million of outflows, falling from almost $13 million of outflows the week before.

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