Municipal bond mutual funds recorded their first inflows in 34 weeks, Lipper FMI numbers showed.
Those funds that report flows weekly posted inflows of $103 million for the week ended Jan. 15. It was the first inflow since the week of May 22. Last week outflows slowed to $19 million.
The muni market's
Assets for all muni funds that report flows weekly rose to $273.9 billion, from $272.4 billion for the week ended Jan 8.
The value of the holdings for weekly reporting funds rose by $1.75 billion. The previous week they increased by $991 million.
The four-week moving average for all municipal bond mutual funds that report their flows weekly was $720 million of outflows, compared with $1.17 billion of outflows the week before.
Long-term muni bond funds that report flows weekly have suffered heavy outflows for months. They finally registered inflows of $102 million for the week ended Jan. 15. The week before, those funds reported outflows of $222 million.
High-yield muni bond funds recorded their second week of inflows, at $276 million. The previous week, they reported a $50 million inflow, their first since the week of Oct. 30.
Assets for these high-yield funds declined after their first rise in nine weeks. They slipped to $35.20 billion from $35.32 billion the week before.
The value of the holdings for high-yield funds increased by $370 million, compared with a rise of $179 million the previous week.
The four-week moving average for all high-yield municipal bond funds that report their flows weekly showed $105 million of outflows, versus $246 million of outflows the previous week.
James Ramage is a reporter for The Bond Buyer.