Streak Ends as Muni Bond Fund Flows Slip Into the Red

After 18 consecutive weeks of inflows in the market, and 29 weeks in positive territory out of the past 31, municipal bond mutual funds finally had a week of slight outflows.

For the week ended April 11, muni bond funds saw $57.2 million of outflows from funds that report their flows weekly, according to Lipper FMI.

Muni bond funds has seen their inflow numbers thin almost steadily from the week ended March 7, when they were at a calendar-year high of $1.20 billion. For the week ended April 4, there were net inflows of just $63.2 million.

This past week was a mixed one for the market. Muni yields followed those of Treasuries lower after Friday's employment numbers. By Wednesday, though, the march downward halted and reversed itself. Still, demand for primary issuance was relatively strong.

This week, assets for funds that report their flows weekly inched up to $290.7 billion from $289.6 billion the previous week.

The value of the holdings for weekly reporting funds rose for the first time in four weeks. This past week they vaulted by $1.35 billion. The week before, they rose by $254 million.

The four-week moving average for all municipal bond mutual funds that report their flows weekly saw a $131 million inflow, down from a $320 million gain the week before.

High-yield muni funds continued their streak in the black. They have been positive for 17 of the previous 18 weeks.

Funds that report weekly saw $119.5 million in inflows, Lipper said. The previous week, high-yield funds reported just $69.0 million in inflows.

Assets for high-yield funds that report their flows weekly slipped to $38.03 billion, down slightly from $38.13 billion the previous week.

The value of the holdings for weekly reporting funds rose by almost $170 million. Last week, they rose by $116 million.

The four-week moving average for all high-yield muni bond funds that report their flows weekly was a $69 million inflow, down from a $86 million inflow the week before.

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