The market once again saw outflows from muni bond mutual funds, as many industry watchers had expected for the period leading up to tax season.
Those muni bond funds that report their flows weekly registered their seventh consecutive week of outflows at $535 million for the week of April 17, Lipper FMI numbers showed. The outflows were slightly lower than the week of April 10, when weekly reporting funds saw $631 million in outflows.
Munis had a respectable week, all told. The market absorbed most of the weeks new deals without too great an impact.
No enormous, market-moving deals graced the weeks calendar. The secondary market saw decent activity throughout the week, particularly on Wednesday.
Tax-exempt yields mostly kept pace with those of Treasuries. The benchmark triple-A 10-year yield fell two basis points on the week from Friday to 1.70%.
The 30-year yield fell five basis points over the same period to 2.89%. The two-year held its position at 0.29% for a 10th consecutive session.
Treasury yields, by comparison, decreased by around the same amount across the curve. Subsequently, muni ratios to Treasuries held their levels throughout the week since Friday. Those ratios past the front end of the curve hovered around 100%.
Assets for all muni funds that report their flows weekly fell for the first time in six weeks to $326.4 billion. The week prior, they reported $327.4 billion.
The value of the holdings for weekly reporting funds rose by $447 million. The week before, they rose by $1.15 billion.
The four-week moving average for all municipal bond mutual funds that report their flows weekly was $372 million of outflows, compared to $303 million in outflows the week before.
Long-term bond funds that report their flows weekly continued to see outflows, at just $49 million, but as with last weeks numbers, they were considered light when compared with the previous several weeks. They reported $54 million of outflows last week.
High-yield muni funds recorded their second consecutive week of inflows, and their third in the past month. For most of 2012 and 2013, flows have been positive.
High-yield funds that report weekly saw $21 million in inflows, Lipper said. The previous week, they reported $66 million in outflows.
Assets for high-yield funds that report their flows weekly rose to $45.82 billion, up from $45.61 billion reported the week before.
The value of the holdings for weekly reporting high-yield funds rose by $75 million. Last week, they decreased by $195 million.
The four-week moving average for all high-yield municipal bond funds that report their flows weekly showed $16 million of inflows, rising slightly from just $1.1 million of inflows the week before.
