Munis

I am advising some clients to ladder maturities to lock in more dependable tax-free income streams — especially for those in states with high income taxes, like California.

Even when the market was climbing to records earlier this year, John Miller’s risk appetite exceeded that of some of his peers.

Although roughly 40% of the actively managed industry beat their indexes, the worst-performers eked out an average gain of just 1.07%.

The actively managed fund will incorporate ratings from independent research that measures investments’ impact on society.

Geospatial data may assist the muni industry with monitoring the economic impact of wildfires or natural disasters, an expert says.

Data reported by the Investment Company Institute.

Nearly all of the fixed-income funds held short term debt.

Data reported by the Investment Company Institute.

Why the explosive growth of taxable munis could be sustainable

Given that almost one-third of leveraged loans are just a downgrade away from triple-C, even a modest slowdown could create a snowball effect of sorts.

Data reported by the Investment Company Institute.

“Not every muni is trying to achieve the same thing,” an expert says.

“The combination of low rates, curbs on state and local tax deductions, and consistent economic expansion have been a nice tailwind,” an analyst says.

Angst over the Fed’s decision to lower borrowing costs has seeped into the $3.8 trillion market for municipal bonds.

Data reported by the Investment Company Institute.

Just five asset managers hold about 80% of the new money added to the municipal-bond market this year.

Defined-maturity funds offer traditional fixed-income interest payments.

Activist investors have taken large stakes in at least 100 of the products so far this year.

The billions of dollars that have flooded the state and local debt market this year have only heightened the craving.

The average expense ratio among the top-performers is 40 basis points higher than the average.