Municipal bond mutual funds saw inflows for a third consecutive week, and after six consecutive weeks of outflows.
The week ending Sept. 21 saw $296 million in inflows from muni bond funds that report their flows weekly, according to Lipper FMI.
Flows are lighter than those of the previous week. In the week ended Sept. 14, there were net inflows of $470 million for muni bond funds that report their flows weekly, Lipper reported.
A large uptick in new issuance may continue to be behind the inflows. The volume has brought with it price discovery and given the muni market a generally stronger tone, traders said. It’s possible that investors might have sensed this and decided that muni funds were again a sound choice.
The industry well remembers how money hemorrhaged from muni bond funds between mid-November and early June, often by more than $1 billion a week. In the week of Jan. 19, investors in weekly reporting funds pulled more than $4 billion.
Assets for funds that report their flows weekly rose this week to $335.7 billion from $334.5 billion the previous week.
The value of the holdings for weekly reporting funds increased by a whopping $906 million. The week before, they reported an increase of $175 million.
The four-week moving average for all municipal bond mutual funds that report their flows weekly saw a $262 million inflow, up considerably from a $151 million inflow the week before.
High-yield muni funds have also seen their second consecutive week of inflows after six straight weeks of outflows.
Funds that report weekly saw inflows of $119 million, Lipper reported. The previous week, high-yield funds reported inflows of $104 million.
Assets for high-yield funds that report their flows weekly ended at $41.93 billion, up from $41.60 billion the previous week. The value of the holdings for weekly reporting funds rose by $215 million. Last week, they rose by just $16.9 million.
The four-week moving average for all high-yield muni bond funds that report their flows weekly was a $63 million inflow, up from a $24 million inflow the week before.
