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I am looking to identify an index of closed-end funds or some other aggregate/summary metric that captures the overall closed-end fund universe. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Barron's publishes the Herzfeld indices every week in the CEF data section. The equity index measures only 15 funds, however. The discount-premium index is worthwhile. That chart shows that on the whole, CEFs experienced big increases in discounts at the end of 2012, but they have since recovered.
if you are looking at a specific CEF, check out the z-score on morning* or 'pricing' tab on CEFconnect.com (again, for a specific name).
You'll find, as should be expected, that equity cef's are priced relatively high (discounts are lower) while fixed income cef's are priced more moderately to their own recent history (premiums are lower), and muni cef's have been desimated -- lowest discounts in a 3-5 year period for some.
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http://www.ftportfolios.com/retail/index/index-cef.aspx
BWG
BWG
There's an ETF that tracks the CEFs:
http://www.invescopowershares.com/products/overview.aspx?ticker=PCEF
You'll find, as should be expected, that equity cef's are priced relatively high (discounts are lower) while fixed income cef's are priced more moderately to their own recent history (premiums are lower), and muni cef's have been desimated -- lowest discounts in a 3-5 year period for some.
BWG
BWG