Investing July 16, 2003

Equities Rule the Roost With June UITs

July 16, 2003 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Unit investment trusts (UIT) enjoyed their second straight boffo month in June with a healthy 18% increase in total assets.
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According to the Investment Company Institute, UIT assets ended June with $1.08 billion in total assets, up from $911.4 million in May. May’s figure represented a 22.3% increase from April (See  UITs Still Flying High in May ).

However, among the UIT categories, only equities had a memorable June. Equity UITs finished the month with $848.1 million in assets, up a whopping 28.1% from May’s $662.1 million. Meanwhile, both debt categories ended June in negative territory with taxable debt UITs giving back 12% in assets to $71.2 million, down from $80.9 million in May. Tax-free debt UITs ended with $156.2 million in assets, down 7.2% from May’s $168.3 million.

June recorded 55 new trusts issuing shares for the month.  Of that total, 23 were equity trusts, 28 were tax-free bond trusts, and four were taxable bond trusts.

In terms of maturity, long-term bond trusts having an average weighted maturity of more than 15 years were the most commonly offered in June, with $156.4 million in shareholder deposits.

UITs offer fixed portfolios of selected stocks or bonds.

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