FMN News and Press, Federated Premier Municipal Income Fund From 07/07/21

Many municipal negative sector outlooks assigned during the pandemic were revised back to stable during the first and second quarters. As mentioned earlier, the states of CT, IL, and NJ have been improving, albeit from low levels. They have put in place plans to increase the funding o...

Faced with higher inflation numbers, the Federal Reserve has begun to create more meaningful parameters around its evolving stance on monetary policy. Although the changes could be less dramatic than many expect, we believe that investors should be prepared for higher market volatilit...

The second quarter of 2021 saw a drop in US Treasury yields, as well as in high-grade tax-free bond yields. The quarter in general was one that saw continued increases in month-over-month inflation but little real reaction in the bond markets. The Federal Reserve has continued to ...

The potential for higher U.S. taxes, coupled with regulatory risks and shifting growth momentum, tempers our near-term enthusiasm for U.S. equities. Euro area business activity surged in June as the region catches up on the restart that has been led by the U.S. and UK. Investors w...

Muni CEF discounts are closing by the day. I believe they will reach a premium in the next few months (perhaps sooner). We have remained steadfastly bullish on tax-free munis, especially high-yield munis in 2021, for numerous reasons. Our view is that rates have made the bulk of t...

During the fund flows week, investors continued their search for yield, injecting a net $2.0 billion and $1.9 billion into taxable bond funds (including ETFs) and municipal bond funds, respectively. On the taxable side, Short Investment-Grade Debt Funds (+$884 million) attracted the l...

20 out of 23 CEF sectors positive on price and 21 out of 23 sectors positive on NAV last week. GAB rights offering is now live. IGA/IGD/IDE tender results were pleasing, DEX tender coming up. DSE to merge into an open-ended fund soon. Portfolio holdings: distribution boost...

With the post-pandemic US economy on the mend, a new threat has emerged: inflation. A confluence of pent-up consumer demand, record household savings, low inventories and global shortages has ignited the sharpest near-term price hikes in decades. Effective inflation-protection str...

Municipals posted another month of positive performance amid range-bound interest rates. Fiscal stimulus and infrastructure uncertainty limited municipal issuance. Summer seasonal supply-demand dynamics have historically boded well for muni performance. For further details s...

Risk-adjusted performance for the Global Market Index (GMI) continued to tick higher in May. GMI’s Sharpe ratio — a measure of risk-adjusted return – rose to 0.82 on a trailing 10-year basis through last month. That’s close to a pandemic high, but still...