Core Viewpoint - The closed-end fund (CEF) market is experiencing mixed performance, with discounts generally widening, but most sectors showing positive returns month-to-date, particularly municipal funds due to a significant drop in long-term Treasury yields [15]. Market Action - Fixed-income sector discounts are trading tighter than equity counterparts, indicating a shift in investor preference towards fixed-income assets [4]. - The credit CEF swirlogram suggests that valuations are inching towards the unattractive quadrant, with tight underlying credit spreads and increasing discounts [7]. - The funds have seen a bounce of 4-5% as discounts tightened, with historical data showing that certain funds traded at significant discounts which have mostly disappeared at the start of 2024 [8]. Sector Discounts - Loan CEFs are trading at very tight discounts, while municipal CEF discounts have tightened slightly but remain near double-digit levels on average [18]. - Limited duration CEF discounts have also tightened slightly, indicating a disconnect from loan CEFs, which have historically moved in sync [18]. Investment Vehicles - Investors interested in Saba's activism have three investment vehicles available: the SABA CEF ETF (CEFS) and two CEFs (BRW and SABA) [10]. - The SABA CEF ETF is characterized as a more pure-play activist CEF portfolio, while the two CEFs resemble traditional fixed-income/multi-sector funds [12]. Recent Developments - Saba and Invesco have entered into a standstill agreement regarding two state municipal CEFs (VPV and VTN), with Invesco planning a tender offer for 25% of the funds' common shares at 99% of NAV, set to go live at the end of October [21]. - Following the tender offer, it will be observed whether Saba will increase its share purchases if discounts widen again [22].

Masisyan/iStock via Getty Images Market Action CEF discounts have continued to creep tighter, now trading not far off their longer-term average level. Market Themes Blackstone hiked the distribution of their loan CEF BGB by 9% to $0.101. The fund's distribution has been all over the place. It rose to $0.102 from $0.094 late last year then promptly fell back to $0.094 and is now back above $0.1. The fund declares its 3 monthly distributions each quarter to roughly match recent average monthly net income. Giv ...

For income-seeking investors, closed-end funds (CEFs) offer relatively high distributions and the potential to buy these shares at a discount to the fund's NAV. But these are lesser known fund structures. So many advisors and investors unfamiliar with CEFs may opt to invest in them through a familiar wrapper like ETFs. The universe of ETFs of CEFs is small. But one ETF - the Invesco CEF Income Composite ETF (PCEF) - has significantly more assets and a longer history than the rest. This is a look at PCEF ove ...

Systematic Income Takeaways With market valuations back to expensive levels, CEF investors may be thinking about other opportunities besides the beta provided by their portfolios to boost returns in their portfolios. We highlight four alpha strategies CEF investors can use in their portfolios. In the current environment, we see most alpha potential in interval funds, leaning against investor flows as well as relative value opportunities. Editor's Note: This article covers one or more microcap stocks. Please ...

PIMCO Muni and Taxable Average Coverage ● PIMCO Muni ● PIMCO Taxable 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% Jun-23 Jul-23 Aug-23 Sep-23 Oct-23 Oct-23 Dec-23 Jan-24 Feb-24 Feb-24 Mar-24 Apr-24 That said, much of the coverage uplift was concentrated in PDO, with the remainder of the taxable suite seeing little change. Outside of PDO, average taxable coverage is 63%. The fiscal-year-to-date picture is slightly better, at 73%. Systematic Income CEF Tool PIMCO semi-annual reporting periods end in the months of June and December. N ...

Welcome to another installment of our CEF Market Weekly Review, where we discuss closed-end fund ("CEF") market activity from both the bottom-up - highlighting individual fund news and events - as well as the top-down - providing an overview of the broader market. We also try to provide some historical context as well as the relevant themes that look to be driving markets or that investors ought to be mindful of. This update covers the period through the first week of June. Be sure to check out our other we ...

Positive Tactical Considerations Systematic Income Naturally, much of this yield (about half for the higher-yielding funds) is going to be ROC however it can still do the job as far as discount tightening as it is likely to generate additional demand, pulling investor capital from taxable sectors. This capital reallocation is likely to benefit higher-yielding funds in the sector. Exhibit 27: Combined upgrade to downgrade ratio, Moody's and S&P Municipal credit spreads remain near rock-bottom levels. This pi ...

tumsasedgars Closed-end funds, commonly referred to as CEFs, are popular investments for income-focused investors, especially retirees. There are numerous good reasons for this, which we will go over in this article. However, it is important for investors to be particularly cautious about investing in the closed-end fund space in the current environment. In this article, we will discuss why. Advantages of Investing In Closed-End Funds First, CEFs are well-diversified, typically holding scores if not hundred ...

-Oxford-/E+ via Getty Images Thesis The 6.75% Series 2024 Term Preferred Shares (NASDAQ:OXLCM) are exchange traded term preferred shares from the Oxford Lane Capital Corporation (OXLC) closed end fund. We covered these securities last year here, where we assigned them a 'Buy' rating based on their short tenor, reduced risk and high yield. The securities have delivered a steady stream of income since, outperforming treasury funds. With the term redemption date for the securities shortly coming up at the end ...

Seeking Alpha The fund's performance relative to its peers was not the worst, but it is far from being the best. After all, the best-performing fund in this peer group, the Calamos Convertible Opportunities Fund, delivered an 11.49% gain. In fact, every fund in this peer comparison except for the Virtus Convertible & Income Fund outperformed the Bancroft Fund. This is likely to turn off potential investors in this fund. However, as I pointed out in a recent article: Kameleon007 The Bancroft Fund (NYSE:BCV) ...