It turns out that many so-called single state municipal bond mutual funds actually put a bit, or more than a bit, of their assets into debt issued by Puerto Rico. Of course, single-state muni funds are called single-state because of their target shareholders (i.e. the people from their home state can get income from them tax-free) and not their investments (which simply need to generate that tax-free income for the investors).

Tom Lauricella takes note of this trend in the Wall Street Journal's "Journal Report" today. He cites the Franklin Oregon Tax-Free IncomeFund [profile] in particular (12.2 percent in Puerto Rican debt as of September 30). Morningstar fixed-income research director Eric Jacobsen, Wamco [profile] muni bond fund PM Robert Amadeo, Franklin muni bond group co-director Rafael Costas, and Oppenheimer Rochester Virginia Municipal Fund [profile] PM Daniel Loughran all weighed in for the article. 

Edited by: Neil Anderson, Managing Editor


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