For the month, 95% of all closed-end funds (CEFs) posted net-asset-value (NAV)-based returns in the black, with 92% of equity CEFs and 97% of fixed income CEFs chalking up returns in the plus column. For the first month in 23, Lipper’s world equity CEFs (+9.21%) macro-group outpaced its two equity-based brethren: domestic equity CEFs (+4.33%) and mixed-assets CEFs (+3.41%). For the first month in 23, the Emerging Markets CEFs classification (+13.70%) moved to the top of the equity leaderboard, followed by Developed Markets CEFs (+10.60%) and Utility CEFs (+9.17%).
For the first month in four, the municipal debt CEFs macro-group outpaced or mitigated losses better than the other macro-groups in the fixed income universe, posting an 8.28% gain on average—its largest monthly gain in at least the last 25 years—followed by world income CEFs (+4.56%) and domestic taxable bond CEFs (+2.12%). Fixed income investors bought out-of-favor issues and capitalized on the large declines in yields at the long end of the curve. For the first month in six, investors pushed Corporate Debt BBB-Rated CEFs (+4.36%) to the top of the domestic taxable fixed income leaderboard, followed by Corporate Debt BBB-Rated CEFs (Leveraged) (+4.21%) and High Yield CEFs (Leveraged) (+2.74%).
For November, the median discount of all CEFs narrowed 258 bps to 7.32%—wider than the 12-month moving average median discount (6.83%). In this report, we highlight November 2022 CEF performance trends, premiums and discounts, and corporate actions and events.
Highlights:
- For the second month in a row, equity CEFs (+5.16% on a NAV basis) on average witnessed plus-side returns, while their fixed income CEF cohorts (+4.53%) posted gains for the first month in four.
- Only 19% of all CEFs traded at a premium to their NAV at month end, with 20% of equity CEFs and 17% of fixed income CEFs trading in premium territory. The high yield CEFs macro-classification witnessed the largest narrowing of discounts for the month among Lipper’s CEF macro-groups—518 bps to a 4.82% median discount.
- Emerging Markets CEFs (+13.70%) outshined the other classifications in the equity CEF universe for November.
- For the first month in 23, Emerging Markets Hard Currency Debt CEFs (+9.25%) moved to the top of the leaderboard in the fixed income CEF universe for November.
- For the first month in four, the municipal debt CEFs macro-group posted a plus-side return (+8.28% on average), with all nine classifications in the group experiencing positive performance for the month.
Download our Closed-End Funds FundMarket Insight Report: The Month in Closed-End Funds: November 2022 here.
Refinitiv Lipper delivers data on more than 330,000 collective investments in 113 countries. Find out more.
