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| BondsOnline.com: instant access to and extensive coverage of over 3.5 million stocks, bonds, indexes and other securities covering major and emerging markets and exchanges across the globe. |
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| Bonds Online |
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| 5/10/2013Market Performance |
| Municipal Bonds |
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S&P National Bond Index
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3.00% |
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S&P California Bond Index
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2.96% |
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S&P New York Bond Index
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3.13% |
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S&P National 0-5 Year Municipal Bond Index
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0.70% |
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| S&P/BGCantor US Treasury Bond |
400.09 |
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| More |
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| Income Equities: |
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| Preferred Stocks |
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S&P U.S. Preferred Stock Index
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848.03 |
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S&P U.S. Preferred Stock Index (CAD)
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636.26 |
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S&P U.S. Preferred Stock Index (TR)
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1,701.05 |
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S&P U.S. Preferred Stock Index (TR) (CAD)
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1,276.26 |
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| REITs |
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S&P REIT Index
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174.07 |
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S&P REIT Index (TR)
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425.30 |
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| MLPs |
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S&P MLP Index
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2,469.58 |
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S&P MLP Index (TR)
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5,428.50 |
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See Data
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Is it time to buy single-state muni funds? |
REUTERS - March 24, 2011
“Tax-free income!”
Can there be a more delicious phrase in the world of finance?
Sure. How about “Double-tax-free income?”
That’s the claim that can be made by about 360 single-state municipal bond mutual funds.
They’re the funds that are invested in securities of state and local governments whose interest payments, passed through to fund shareholders as dividends, are exempt from both federal and state income taxes if the securities are issued in the states where the shareholders live — whether by state or local governments.
Single-state funds are offered in nearly all 43 states which have an individual income tax. They are also offered in three other states that have no general income tax, two of which tax income from bonds and stocks, and one that ended a intangible property tax on securities in 2007.
For the men and women who manage these funds’ $150 billion of total net assets – including those who won Lipper Leader Awards for the last three, five or 10 years — life has been far from dull. The credit crunch brought with it the disintegration of the municipal bond insurance industry, which had given bond issues a triple-A rating, enabling managers to easily stuff their portfolios with what, presumably, was quality paper.
Muni investors also have been shaken by fears that favorable treatment for investors could disappear as the tax code is rewritten. And cash-strapped states and municipalities continue to face severe fiscal problems, raising concerns of bond defaults. As a result, there is a dearth of new muni issues and a massive exodus from municipal bonds despite attractive tax-free yields.
Given this grim picture, what has Joseph R. Baxter, head of Philadelphia-based Delaware Investments’ municipal bond department, done to earn three-, five- and 10-year Lipper Fund Awards for Delaware Tax-Free Pennsylvania Fund — as well as three- and 10-year awards for the Delaware Tax-Free New York Fund and Delaware Tax-Free California Fund and a 10-year award for the Minnesota High-Yield Municipal Bond Fund?
He tried to earn more income. “If I can earn more income than my peers, I should be able to outperform,” Baxter says. How? By aiming to have distribution yields in the top one-third of his peer group; by preferring new issues rated A and triple-B over lower-yield but higher-rated double- and triple-As; by investing at the longer end of municipals’ steep yield curve and by emphasizing higher-yielding revenue bonds when markets are “normal.”
Baxter tries to control credit risk by “getting to know issuers” through extensive research and by favoring tax-supported general obligation bonds when markets are tough. He tries to mitigate interest-rate risk of bond prices falling when rates rise by alternating between managing for “bullet” durations, when he was defensive, and “barbell” — that is, investing in securities of short and long durations — when not. (Duration is a measure of a bond price’s sensitivity to changes in interest rates.)
For the complete article.
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Income Security Recommendation January 2013 Issue.
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