Weekly Closed-End Fund Roundup: August 30, 2020

Author’s note: This article was released to CEF/ETF Income Laboratory members on Sep. 1, 2020. Please check latest data before investing.

The Weekly Closed-End Fund Roundup will be put out at the start of each week to summarize recent price movements in closed-end fund [CEF] sectors in the last week, as well as to highlight recently concluded or upcoming corporate actions on CEFs, such as tender offers. Most of the information has been sourced from CEFInsight or the Closed-End Fund Center. I will also link to some articles from Seeking Alpha that I have found for useful reading over the past week. The searchable tag for this feature is “cildoc”. Data is taken from the close of Friday, August 28^th, 2020.

Weekly performance roundup

13 out of 23 sectors were positive on price (up from 8 last week) and the average price return was -0.13% (down from -0.47% last week). The lead gainer was Commodities (+2.86%), followed by Asia Equity (+2.43%) and Taxable Munis (+1.76%), the lowest sector by Price was MLPs (-6.17%), followed by California Munis (-2.71%) and National Munis (-2.54%).

(Source: Stanford Chemist, CEFConnect)

16 out of 23 sectors were positive on NAV (up from 7 last week), while the average NAV return was +0.23% (up from -0.32% last week). The top sectors by NAV were Convertibles (+2.82%), Asia Equity (+2.55%) and U.S. Equity (+1.72%). The weakest sectors by NAV were MLPs (-6.26%), Commodities (-1.37%) and California Munis (-1.35%).

(Source: Stanford Chemist, CEFConnect)

There were only three premium sectors this week, the leader was Taxable Munis (+2.61%), while the sector with the highest discount is MLPs (-23.43%). The average sector discount is -7.78% (down from -7.01% last week).

(Source: Stanford Chemist, CEFConnect)

The sector with the highest premium/discount increase was Commodities (+1.44%), Multisector Income (-1.80%) showed the lowest premium/discount decline. The average change in premium/discount was -0.48% (down from -0.13% last week).

(Source: Stanford Chemist, CEFConnect)

The sector with the highest average 1-year z-score is Taxable Munis (+0.47), followed by Single-state Munis (+0.41). The sector with the lowest average 1-year z-score was MLPs (-1.35), followed by Real Estate(-1.08). The average z-score is -0.37 (down from -0.25 last week).

(Source: Stanford Chemist, CEFConnect)

The sectors with the highest yields are MLPs (16.80%), Global Allocation (11.12%), Limited Duration (9.33%), Multisector Income (9.01%) and Convertibles (8.85%). Discounts and z-scores for the sectors are included for comparison. The average sector yield is +7.43% (up from +7.39% last week).

(Source: Stanford Chemist, CEFConnect)

Individual CEFs that have undergone a significant decrease in premium/discount value over the past week, coupled optionally with an increasing NAV trend, a negative z-score, and/or are trading at a discount, are potential buy candidates.

Fund	Ticker	P/D decrease	Yield	P/D	Z-Score	Price change	NAV change
First Trust Spec Finance & Fincl Opp	(FGB)	-12.06%	12.18%	-8.14%	-1.4	-14.78%	-3.59%
PIMCO Income Opportunity	(PKO)	-8.91%	9.88%	4.01%	-1.1	-5.95%	2.12%
Oxford Lane Capital Corp	(OXLC)	-6.81%	19.06%	28.79%	-0.9	-2.97%	2.17%
Western Asset Invstm Grd Dfnd Opp Tr Inc	(IGI)	-6.78%	3.89%	1.86%	0.0	-7.08%	-0.88%
Eagle Point Credit Company LLC	(ECC)	-6.38%	12.32%	-1.02%	-0.3	-0.76%	5.64%
Neuberger Real Estate Securities Income	(NRO)	-6.27%	12.34%	-6.27%	-0.4	-5.12%	1.22%
PIMCO CA Municipal Income III	(PZC)	-6.03%	4.44%	2.09%	-0.8	-6.97%	-1.47%
Cornerstone Total Return Fund	(CRF)	-5.95%	19.75%	10.09%	0.6	-0.73%	4.65%
Aberdeen Global Income Fund, Inc.	(FCO)	-5.13%	12.23%	1.78%	0.4	-5.37%	-0.59%
Western Asset Mortgage Defined Opp	(DMO)	-4.79%	11.81%	-7.43%	-2.2	-5.26%	-0.36%

(Source: Stanford Chemist, CEFConnect)

Conversely, individual CEFs that have undergone a significant increase in premium/discount value in the past week, coupled optionally with a decreasing NAV trend, a positive z-score, and/or are trading at a premium, are potential sell candidates.

Fund	Ticker	P/D increase	Yield	P/D	z-score	Price change	NAV change
Nuveen MO Quality Muni Inc	(NOM)	5.04%	3.24%	5.17%	1.1	4.20%	-0.78%
OFS Credit Company Inc	(OCCI)	4.29%	19.44%	-2.19%	1.2	7.43%	2.63%
Nuveen NY Municipal Value	(NNY)	4.28%	3.19%	4.47%	1.7	3.54%	-0.69%
Highland Global Allocation Fund	(HGLB)	4.25%	15.04%	-32.25%	-0.2	2.92%	-3.51%
Cohen & Steers Total Return	(RFI)	4.18%	7.39%	1.48%	0.0	5.44%	1.11%
Gabelli Go Anywhere Trust	(GGO)	3.72%	1.82%	-7.19%	0.5	4.08%	-0.08%
FOXBY CORP	(OTCPK:FXBY)	3.37%	0.49%	-34.29%	-0.3	6.77%	1.30%
Eaton Vance Float-Rate 2022 Target Term	(EFL)	3.28%	4.96%	-2.57%	0.3	3.94%	0.45%
Flaherty & Crumrine Preferred Income	(PFD)	3.25%	6.32%	16.96%	2.8	3.81%	0.94%
Nuveen Pennsylvania Municipal Value	(NPN)	3.05%	2.42%	0.53%	1.8	2.43%	-0.66%

(Source: Stanford Chemist, CEFConnect)

Distribution changes announced this month

These are sorted in ascending order of distribution change percentage. Funds with distribution changes announced this month are included. Any distribution declarations made this week are in bold. I’ve also added monthly/quarterly information as well as yield, coverage (after the boost/cut), discount and 1-year z-score information. I’ve separated the funds into two sub-categories, cutters and boosters.

Cutters

Name	Ticker	Change	Previous	Current	Yield	Discount	z-score	Coverage	Announced	Ex-date
First Trust Spec Finance & Fincl Opp	(FGB)	-38.9%	0.135	0.0825	12.18%	-8.14%	-1.4	54%	8/10/2020	8/21/2020
Templeton Emerg Mkts Income	(TEI)	-29.8%	0.0506	0.0355	5.57%	-14.72%	-1.0	134%	8/3/2020	8/14/2020
Ivy High Income Opportunities Fund	(IVH)	-10.0%	0.1	0.09	9.01%	-12.23%	-0.8	113%	8/3/2020	8/14/2020
Wells Fargo Util & High In	(ERH)	-7.4%	0.07809	0.07233	6.80%	6.60%	-0.1	45%	8/12/2020	9/11/2020
Wells Fargo Global Dividend Opp Fd	(EOD)	-4.9%	0.14157	0.13464	11.78%	-13.12%	-1.7	11%	8/12/2020	9/11/2020
Voya Prime Rate Trust	(PPR)	-2.0%	0.0148	0.0145	3.92%	-6.92%	1.0	152%	8/3/2020	8/7/2020
Templeton Global Income	(GIM)	-1.9%	0.0155	0.0152	3.43%	-13.64%	-0.6	189%	8/3/2020	8/14/2020
Wells Fargo Multi-Sec Inc	(ERC)	-0.9%	0.09472	0.0939	9.99%	-8.81%	-0.5	67%	8/12/2020	9/11/2020
Wells Fargo Inc Opp	(EAD)	-0.7%	0.05708	0.05668	9.03%	-12.34%	-0.7	78%	8/12/2020	9/11/2020

Boosters

Name	Ticker	Change	Previous	Current	Yield	Discount	z-score	Coverage	Announced	Ex-date
MFS® Intermediate Income	(MIN)	0.1%	0.02854	0.02856	8.95%	-4.49%	0.8	28%	8/3/2020	8/18/2020
MFS Special Value	(MFV)	0.2%	0.04314	0.04323	9.68%	0.75%	-0.9	28%	8/3/2020	8/18/2020
MFS® Government Markets Inc	(MGF)	0.3%	0.02928	0.02938	7.55%	-2.91%	0.7	29%	8/3/2020	8/18/2020
MFS® Intermediate High Income	(CIF)	0.7%	0.01871	0.01884	9.83%	-5.74%	-0.8	60%	8/3/2020	8/18/2020
MFS® Charter Income	(MCR)	0.9%	0.05774	0.05825	8.19%	-3.28%	1.3	52%	8/3/2020	8/18/2020
MFS Multimarket Income	(MMT)	1.2%	0.04074	0.04124	8.40%	-6.51%	0.0	58%	8/3/2020	8/18/2020
Delaware Investments Dividend & Income	(DDF)	2.7%	0.0526	0.054	7.56%	-5.82%	-1.4	41%	8/4/2020	8/20/2020
Delaware Enhanced Global Div and Inc	(DEX)	2.8%	0.0499	0.0513	6.74%	-8.61%	0.6	52%	8/4/2020	8/20/2020
Invesco PA Value	(VPV)	3.5%	0.0483	0.05	4.78%	-10.42%	-0.4	97%	8/3/2020	8/13/2020
Pioneer Floating Rate Trust	(PHD)	4.2%	0.06	0.0625	7.64%	-9.49%	0.6	92%	8/4/2020	8/18/2020
Pioneer Municipal High Income Advantage	(MAV)	5.9%	0.0425	0.045	4.95%	-10.27%	0.1	91%	8/4/2020	8/18/2020
Invesco Quality Municipal Income Trust	(IQI)	6.8%	0.0487	0.052	5.07%	-9.36%	-0.5	91%	8/3/2020	8/13/2020
Eaton Vance Floating-Rate Income	(EFT)	7.0%	0.057	0.061	6.04%	-11.73%	0.1	103%	8/3/2020	8/21/2020
Invesco Value Muni Income	(IIM)	7.1%	0.056	0.06	4.87%	-10.20%	-0.8	94%	8/3/2020	8/13/2020
Pioneer Diversified High Income	(HNW)	7.9%	0.095	0.1025	9.14%	-7.36%	1.2	98%	8/4/2020	8/18/2020
Invesco Adv Muni Inc II	(VKI)	8.1%	0.043	0.0465	5.14%	-9.21%	-0.4	91%	8/3/2020	8/13/2020
Invesco Tr Inv Gr Muni	(VGM)	8.5%	0.0493	0.0535	5.09%	-8.56%	-0.1	91%	8/3/2020	8/13/2020
Invesco Muni Opp	(VMO)	8.8%	0.0478	0.052	5.05%	-7.63%	0.3	92%	8/3/2020	8/13/2020
Invesco CA Value	(VCV)	10.5%	0.043	0.0475	4.63%	-8.81%	-0.2	97%	8/3/2020	8/13/2020
Eaton Vance Senior Income	(EVF)	14.8%	0.027	0.031	6.36%	-8.88%	0.9	87%	8/3/2020	8/12/2020
Fiduciary-Claymore Energy Infrastructure	(FMO)	50.8%	0.1625	0.245	11.26%	-24.35%	-1.7	0%	8/4/2020	8/13/2020

CEF analysis from around Seeking Alpha…

ADS Analytics presents EDI: Fewer Headwinds For This High-Yielding EM Fund (Aug. 26), PIMCO CEF Coverage July Update (Aug. 27)

Dividend Seeker presents PCN: Modest Outlook Going Forward (Aug. 26), PDI: Now A Better Relative Value, But Understand The Risks (Aug. 27)

Douglas Albo presents Equity CEFs: AIO Is A $25 Fund (Aug. 27)

*Nick Ackerman presents Income Lab Ideas: Energy Isn’t Dead, It’s Evolving (Aug. 22), EXD: Check-Up On This Eaton Vance Option Writing Fund (Aug. 22), HIE: An Area Of ‘Value’ For CEF Investors (Aug.25), StoneCastle Financial: A Unique CEF Presenting An Opportunity (Aug. 25), Closed-End Funds: 4 Municipal Bond Funds For Your Portfolio (Aug. 28)

Rida Morwa presents Juicing Your Retirement Yield With CEFs: PCI, HFRO And RQI (Aug. 22)

*Stanford Chemist presents Weekly Closed-End Fund Roundup: MAV Boosts Again (August 16, 2020) (Aug. 25)

*To subscribers: these link to the public version of the article, which you will already have seen in the members section.

Macro/market section

Fear & Greed Trader presents S&P 500 Weekly Update: The Market Is Reacting To ‘What Has Gone Right’ (Aug. 28)

Jeff Miller presents Weighing The Week Ahead: Risky Business Or Business As Usual? (Aug. 30)

Lance Roberts presents MacroView: A Tale Of 2 Bull Markets (Aug. 29)

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Disclosure: I am/we are long MAV, OCCI, PKO. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.