BYM News and Press, Blackrock Municipal Income Quality Trust of Beneficial Interest From 07/24/19

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This article was first released to CEF/ETF Income Laboratory subscribers 2 weeks ago, so data may be out of date. Please check the latest data before making investment decisions. The Weekly Closed-End Fund Roundup will be put out at the start of each week to summarize recent price mo...

By Patricia Healy, CFA The positive trend of upgrades to downgrades continues. S&P reported on May 8th that upgrades outpaced downgrades by 2.39 to 1 in Q1 2019, which compares to 2.09 to 1 for all of 2018. In our monitoring of rating agencies' actions, this trend appears to have conti...

By Cooper J Howard When you buy a municipal bond, you're making a loan to a state or local government, for which it promises to pay you back an amount at some date in the future - potentially as long as 30 years in the future. How do you know if the municipality will be able to make good...

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Closed-end funds ("CEFs") rebounded in the month of June alongside risk markets after a weaker May. Discounts across the CEF space ended the month at -5.11%, about 27 bps tighter than on May 31. Z-scores continue to inch higher and rose to +0.75 from +0.58. CEFs have had a bit of a period of...

BlackRock Municipal Income Quality Trust (NYSE: BYM ) declares $0.0480/share monthly dividend , -7.7% decrease from prior dividend of $0.0520. Forward yield 4.19% Payable Aug. 1; for shareholders of record July 12; ex-div July 11. Press Release See BYM Dividend Scorecard, Yi...

By John R. Mousseau, CFA The muni bond market has been on a tear so far this year. Not only have yields dropped, but they have dropped relative to US Treasuries across the board. The chart below shows where we are now and where we were at the start of the year. The big squeeze has been...

Introduction Over the past few months, most of you have noticed our increased activity in closed-end funds as the inflow of volatility finally shook them up and created various arbitrage, and directional, opportunities for active traders like us. Currently, we are cautious when we choose...

By Cooper J Howard The municipal bond market is off to its hottest start in five years, led by the lower-rated segments of the muni market. It may be tempting to chase returns, but we suggest that investors instead take a cautious approach and focus on higher-rated issuers during the secon...