Municipal bond mutual funds continue to see strong demand from investors.
Even though the week was marked by modest moves in prices throughout most of the yield curve, money poured into bond funds for the week ended July 18.
Muni bond funds saw $837 million of inflows from funds that report their flows weekly, according to Lipper FMI. They have seen inflows for 14 consecutive weeks.
Inflow numbers continued to rise from the strong positive flows of the previous week. There were net inflows of $653 million in the week ended July 11. The muni market has now seen positive flows for 43 of the past 46 weeks.
The long bond continues to be the strongest portion of the triple-A yield curve. Since last Friday, yields at the long end set a record low, at 2.90%. The presence of so much investor reinvestment money has caused dealers to really dig for blocks to replace inventory.
Muni yields since last Friday mostly outperformed those of Treasuries. And ratios to Treasuries have held in cheap territory. Ratios in the two, 10- and 30-year marks each remained at levels greater than 110%.
This past week, assets for all muni funds that report their flows weekly jumped to $305.3 billion from $303.3 billion the week before.
The value of the holdings for weekly reporting funds rose by $1.14 billion. The week before, they increased by $1.31 billion.
The four-week moving average for all municipal bond mutual funds that report their flows weekly saw a $608 million inflow, rising from a $538 million gain the week before.
Long-term bond funds recorded strong inflows as well. They represented just more than half of the overall figure for muni bond funds.
Long-term bond funds that report their flows weekly saw inflows to the tune of $464 million, an increase from $323 million the week before.
High-yield muni funds saw their heftiest inflows since March 7. Flows have been positive for 17 consecutive weeks, and 31 of the previous 32 weeks.
High-yield funds that report weekly saw $288 million in inflows, Lipper said. The previous week, they reported $173 million in inflows.
Assets for high-yield funds that report their flows weekly increased to $42.09 billion, up from $41.57 billion the previous week.
The value of the holdings for weekly reporting funds rose by $233 million. Last week, they increased by $252 million.
The four-week moving average for all high-yield muni bond funds that report their flows weekly was nearly $202 million of inflows, up from a $169 million the week before.
