The Month In Closed-End Funds: May 2021

Summary

• For the seventh month in a row, equity closed-end funds (CEFs) on average posted positive returns, rising 1.90% on a NAV basis for May.
• While for the third month running fixed income CEFs posted plus-side returns (+0.86%).
• Thirty percent of all CEFs traded at a premium to their NAV, with 30% of equity CEFs and 31% of fixed income CEFs trading in premium territory.
• Energy MLP CEFs (+6.74%) for the second month in a row posted the strongest one-month returns of the equity classifications in the CEF universe for May.
• For the second consecutive month, the Emerging Markets Hard Currency Debt CEFs (+1.89%) classification posted the strongest plus-side returns in the taxable fixed income CEF universe for May.

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For the month, 92% of all closed-end funds (CEFs) posted net asset value (NAV)-based returns in the black, with 86% of equity CEFs and 97% of fixed income CEFs chalking up returns in the plus column. For the fifth consecutive month, Lipper’s domestic

Analyst’s Disclosure:I/we have no positions in any stocks mentioned, and no plans to initiate any positions within the next 72 hours. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it. I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.