Here is the Income Investor Dashboard for April 2011. Prices are as of the close of markets on March 31, 2011.
Despite a very exciting and volatile month not much changed in terms of market prices and yields. At one point during the month US markets were down, on the Japan and Libya situations, about 6% but managed to comeback in the end. There was basically no changed in stock index or sector yields except for the Vanguard High Yield Index. Also, the MLP index, AMZ, got a little cheaper during the month but only by less than 1%. In bonds, only some of the closed end muni bond CEFs, like the example I use here BFK, increased in price a little. Don’t look now but muni bonds are starting to come back a bit. The MUB ETF is now only 7% off its 52-week high, after being down about 11% at its worst point. Its amazing that an 11% ‘crash’ in muni bonds prices causes such hysteria in the bond market.
MLPs, mortgage REITs, and muni bonds still are offering the best relative values for income investors. MLPs are still trading below their long term historical spreads but not by much. Corporate bonds are slightly more expensive and high yield bonds even more. The following charts bear this out.
That’s about it for this month.