Municipal bond mutual funds saw inflows during a holiday-shortened week and amid markedly outperforming Treasuries
Muni bond funds saw $439 million of inflows from funds that report their flows weekly for the week ended May 30, according to Lipper FMI.
The numbers fell somewhat from those of last week. There were net inflows of $534 million the week ended May 23. The market has now seen positive flows for 36 of the past 39 weeks.
Munis saw modest new issuance and a subdued rally. Comparatively, Treasury yields rode a wave of investor concerns with Europe and the U.S. economy to a record low at the 10-year part of the curve.
The muni market continues to show solid technicals, however, industry pros say. And yields for tax-exempts remain near record levels, and almost prohibitively low for many investors hungry for yield.
As has been the case all year, demand for munis remains strong. Redemption money investors will see shortly will require a home, low yields be damned.
This week, assets for all funds that report their flows weekly ticked up to $298.40 billion from $297.66 billion the previous week.
The value of the holdings for weekly reporting funds rose by $252 million. The week before, they fell by $55 million.
The four-week moving average for all municipal bond mutual funds that report their flows weekly saw a $670 million inflow, up slightly from a $672 million gain the week before.
High-yield muni funds had a decent week. They have seen inflows for 24 of the previous 25 weeks.
Funds that report weekly saw $136 million in inflows, Lipper said. The previous week, high-yield funds reported $169 million in inflows.
Assets for high-yield funds that report their flows weekly increased to $40.20 billion, up a touch from $40 billion the previous week.
The value of the holdings for weekly reporting funds increased by $55.9 million. Last week, they rose by $31.1 million.
The four-week moving average for all high-yield muni bond funds that report their flows weekly was a $198 million inflow, down somewhat from a $204 million inflow the week before.
