Municipal bond mutual funds saw outflows for a second straight week as the market absorbed a large calendar with concessions.
Weekly reporting muni bond funds recorded $133 million in outflows for the week of March 13, Lipper FMI numbers showed. For the week of March 6, they saw outflows of $97 million.
This past week the market saw large deals arrive from issuers in California and New York. Though investors participated at mostly lower prices throughout the week, the market never adopted a decidedly weak tone, or slid into an accelerated sell-off.
Triple-A tax-exempt yields since last Friday either hovered or ticked upward, as on the long end of the curve. Treasury yields, by comparison, staggered one or two basis points in either direction, but generally outperformed those of munis over the same period.
The muni 10-year yield rose one basis points over the span to 2.00%. The 30-year jumped six basis points from last Friday to 3.14%; the two-year held at 0.31% for the 18th straight session.
Muni ratios to Treasuries remained in rich territory beyond the front end of the yield curve. The 10-year and 30-year ratios both rose marginally on the week, but remain below 100%.
Assets for all muni funds that report their flows weekly fell for the second consecutive week to $324.1 billion. The week prior, they reported $325.4 billion.
The value of the holdings for weekly reporting funds plunged by $1.39 billion. The week before, they decreased by $128 million.
The four-week moving average for all municipal bond mutual funds that report their flows weekly was $101 million of inflows, falling from $252 million the week before.
Long-term bond funds that report their flows weekly saw heavy outflows for the week at $444 million. That represented a sharp decline from the $72 million of outflows they reported the week before.
High-yield muni funds also reported outflows for the second straight week. For most of 2012 and 2013, flows were positive.
High-yield funds that report weekly saw $83 million in outflows, Lipper said. The previous week, they reported $1.3 million in outflows.
Assets for high-yield funds that report their flows weekly fell after 10 consecutive weeks of increases to $45.29 billion, down a shade from $45.58 billion the week before.
The value of the holdings for weekly reporting high-yield funds fell by $213 million. Last week, they increased by $84 million.
The four-week moving average for all high-yield municipal bond funds that report their flows weekly showed almost $7 million of inflows, falling from $54 million of inflows the week before.
