Fixed income

Bond yields and risk spreads were too low two months ago and global markets that were too levered are now derisking, according to Bill Gross, manager of the world’s largest mutual fund at Pacific Investment Management Co.

The tax-exempt market took another beating Monday as the 10-year yield rose to a 24-month high and traders said demand for municipal bonds was still deteriorating.

Pacific Investment Management Co.’s William Gross, the billionaire who runs the world’s largest mutual fund, is re-jiggering family investments in Pimco bond funds that have been beaten down by rising interest rates.

Municipal bond investors, spooked that interest rates' climb from record lows is accelerating, continue to pull money from the market in record-breaking droves.

Tax-exempt money market funds' inflows slowed to $819.6 million in the week ended June 17 after a $3.13 billion surge the week before, according to The Money Fund Report, a service of iMoneyNet.com.

Investors pulled $13.34 billion from mutual funds for the week ended Wednesday, June 12, according to data from the Investment Company Institute.

Sessions at the 25th annual Morningstar Investment Conference covered a range of topics from actively managed ETFs, closed-end funds and alternatives to strategies to boost retirement income and solutions to the “yield conundrum.” Here is a baker's dozen of the smartest things we heard at the conference.

The amount of money investors have withdrawn from municipal bond mutual funds, at $1.61 billion for the week of June 12, continues to climb and break records for the year.

After weeks of either net outflows or only modest inflows, tax-exempt money market funds recaptured $3.13 billion of net gains as total net assets grew to $260.97 billion in the week ended June 10, according to The Money Fund Report, a service of iMoneyNet.com.

A difficult May in the municipal bond market has put investors on the defensive.

Morgan Stanley has a plan to boost return on equity in fixed-income trading above its cost of equity after four of the five units failed to meet that metric last year, Chief Executive Officer James Gorman said.

Broker-dealers charged billions of dollars in excessive markups on municipal bond trades from 2005 to 2013, according to a new study.

Vue Entertainment Ltd. was bought by two Canadian pension-fund managers looking to continue the expansion of one of Europe’s largest cinema operators for 935 million pounds ($1.45 billion).

Investors pulled more money from municipal bond mutual funds than they have all year as funds that report flows weekly recorded outflows of $1.47 billion for the week ending June 5.

Following the announcement of John Hallacy's departure from Bank of America Merrill Lynch, sources confirmed that Phil Fischer will step in to lead the group this month.

Muni money funds continue to struggle to recoup the billions they lost this year — particulary around income tax season — and the arrival this week of $411 million is not much of a boost.

U.S. bond funds suffered their second-worst withdrawals last week in more than two decades after speculation about an eventual end to the Federal Reserve’s bond purchases sent fixed-income markets lower.

John Hallacy, a 35-year industry veteran, is retiring as head of municipals research at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, he confirmed late Monday.

Issuance numbers for long-term municipal bonds in May continued to underwhelm market expectations, decreasing 28% for the month.

Outflows among tax-exempt money market funds continued to fluctuate in the week ended May 27 as $1.84 billion fled the industry and total net assets settled at $257.43 billion, according to The Money Fund Report, a service of iMoneyNet.com.