Municipal bonds followed up a particularly strong week of new deals with inflows.
The numbers are down from the previous week, but they are still positive, according to Lipper FMI. The market has seen net inflows for five of the past seven weeks.
In the week ended July 20, there were net inflows of $123 million for muni bond funds that report their flows weekly, Lipper said. Investors the previous week pulled $367 million from muni funds.
Investor interest in muni bond funds is holding its ground. But the industry well remembers how, for 29 consecutive weeks between mid-November and early June, money left muni bond funds, often by more than $1 billion a week. In the week of Jan. 19, investors in weekly reporting funds yanked more than $4 billion, Lipper reported.
Assets for funds that report their flows weekly rose this week to $321.6 billion from $320.7 billion the previous week. In addition, the value of the holdings for weekly reporting funds increased just $365 million. The previous week, they reported an increase of $1.67 billion.
The four-week moving average for all municipal bond mutual funds that report their flows weekly was mostly flat, witnessing a $95 million inflow compared to a $99 million inflow the week before.
High-yield muni funds seemed to have regained their footing — they have seen inflows for the ninth time in 11 weeks. Funds that report weekly saw inflows of $97 million, Lipper reported. The previous week, high-yield funds reported inflows of $67 million.
In addition, assets for high-yield funds that report their flows weekly ticked up to $40.21 billion from $40.04 billion the previous week. The value of the holdings for weekly reporting funds increased by almost $86 million. Last week, they rose by almost $241 million.
The four-week moving average for all high-yield muni bond funds that report their flows weekly rose to a $57.4 million inflow from a $58.4 million inflow the week before.
