As mentioned, several funds investing in the municipals space are among the top performers. The list above highlights the best-performing CEFs this year sorted by total return on market price. (Source: Data by YCharts/table by BOOX Research) Widening CEF market price discounts to NAV further pressing shareholder returns.Several funds have been forced to cut distributions given declining NAV values.Municipals were relatively more resilient with less volatility this year but still down as a group.High yield and junk-bond fixed income pressured from widening credit spreads.Leveraged CEFs have tended to underperform with more downside risk.Extreme market volatility amid the coronavirus pandemic sell-off has driven negative returns among most CEFs in various asset classes.To recap some of the themes in CEFs this year: We have a cautious outlook on munis overall. The Eaton Vance Municipal Bond Fund (NYSE: EIM) is down just 2% this year but still announced a 10% cut to its distribution rate highlighting the difficult environment. Muni CEFs are recognized as typically lower risk but are facing some fundamental pressures considering state and local governments are likely to see surging budget deficits and overall weaker credit conditions. Across 146 'muni-CEFs' the average decline this year is a negative 7% compared to a weaker 15% loss on average for all other taxable bond funds. One area of relative strength among fixed income CEFs have been funds focused on Municipal bonds. MGF has been one of the best-performing CEFs this year with a 5.5% total return gaining from the move lower in rates. One exception is the MFS Government Markets Income ( MGF) which invests in treasuries and agency debt. There are simply fewer options in CEFs that focus on high investment-grade corporates or treasuries that would have been more resilient or even gained this year. We previously covered Barings Global Short Duration High Yield Fund (NYSE: BGH) with a bearish article back in September 2019 and the fund is a laggard in the group down 35% this year. The result has been widening discounts to NAV, or in some cases, narrowing premiums further dragging lower investor returns.

Many funds have already been forced to cut their distribution amounts to remain sustainable adding to selling pressure.

Again, the use of leverage and a large number of funds focusing on high-yield, low-credit quality corporates have suffered from deteriorating credit conditions and widening credit spreads. That's the case with Liberty All-Star Growth (NYSE: ASG) that is down 9% year to date.ДЇixed-income focused CEFs have also fared poorly this year. equity funds that were big winners in 2019, even able to outperform the S&P 500, have given back some of the gains amid the broader market selloff. Tekla Life Sciences Investors (NYSE: HQL), for example, is a top performer able to post a positive gain of 3% this year. The healthcare sector has been resilient during this selloff and a couple of funds investing in the space have been among the leaders. In terms of equity-focused CEFs, it's a diverse group so it's hard to generalize. A good example of this dynamic is the Goldman Sachs MLP Income Opportunities (NYSE: GMZ) down by 90% year to date as one of the worst-performing CEFs this year. This is consistent with the crash in energy prices as economic activity and industrial production grind to a standstill in many parts of the world. Several funds specializing in high-yield energy midstream companies and master-limited-partnerships 'MLPs' are among the worst performers dragging lower the group data. In many cases, the combination of concentrated portfolios in some of the weakest sectors like energy along with the use of leverage has led to devastating declines in individual funds. (Source: Data by YCharts/graph by BOOX Research) Themes By CEF Asset Class

Best performing mutual funds ytd