The Month in Closed-End Funds: April 2017

• For the sixth month in a row equity closed-end funds (CEFs) witnessed a plus-side return on average, rising 1.03% on a net-asset-value (NAV) basis for April, while their fixed income CEF cohorts posted a return in the black for the fifth month running, rising 0.94%.
• For April 20% of all CEFs traded at a premium to their NAV, with 19% of equity CEFs and 21% of fixed income CEFs trading in premium territory. Lipper’s domestic equity CEFs macro-group witnessed the largest narrowing of discount for the month—159 basis points (bps) to 5.47%.
• Energy MLP CEFs (-2.15%) and Natural Resources CEFs (-2.13%) posted the lowest returns in the equity universe and weighed on the domestic equity CEFs macro-group (+039%).
• With investors once again focusing on growth-oriented issues during the month, Growth CEFs rose to the top of the charts (+5.28%) for the second month in a row.
• For the fifth consecutive month all Lipper municipal debt CEF classifications posted returns in the black, with New Jersey Municipal Debt CEFs (+1.03%) and Intermediate Municipal Debt CEFs (+0.98%) posting the best returns of the group.

Download our Closed-End Funds FundMarket Insight Report: The Month in Closed-End Funds: April 2017 here.