Rob Shaker: 'Sympathy widening' could signal a bottom for discounts

Rob Shaker, portfolio manager at Shaker Financial Services, says that the closed-end fund market showed signs of a "sympathy widening" in mid-June, an event when there is "excessive liquidation selling based on fear," leading to a bad day on  the stock markets and bond closed-end fund discounts widening at the same time. Shaker says it can be a sign of a market bottom, which can lead to a bounce-back; still, he says, markets remain fragile and there could be more excessive selling again, though it hasn't happened since June 16. Shaker also noted that the first half of the year saw trouble for closed-end funds, but the behavior of discounts was very different for equity and bond funds, with fixed-income issues seeing a much more dramatic widening than stock funds.