For income investors, closed-end funds remain an attractive investment class that covers various asset classes and promises high distributions and reasonable total returns. Closed-end funds, or CEFs, are generally characterized by higher volatility and deeper drawdowns than the broader market. For these reasons, they are not suited for everyone. In this monthly series, we highlight five CEFs with solid track records that pay high distributions and offer "excess" discounts. We try to separate the wheat from the chaff using our filtering process to select just five CEFs every month from around 500 closed-end funds.

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Each of the Morgan Stanley closed-end funds listed below (the “Funds”) today declared the following dividends. RECORD DATE       PAYABLE DATE 9/29/23       10/13/23 Name of Closed-End Fund  NYSE Ticker  Net Investment Income Per Share Morgan Stanley Emerging Markets Debt Fund, Inc. MSD $0.2125 Morgan Stanley Emerging Markets Domestic Debt Fund, Inc. EDD $0.09 The amount of net investment income to be paid by the Funds is determined in accordance with federal income ta.

For the second consecutive month, equity CEFs (-0.26%) on average witnessed negative performance while their fixed income CEF cohorts (+0.87%) posted gains for the second month in three. At month end, 13% of all CEFs traded at a premium to their NAV, with 18% of equity CEFs and 9% of fixed income CEFs trading in premium territory.

We review CEF market valuation and performance through the fourth week of March and highlight recent market action. CEFs were relatively flat on the week; however, discounts continued to mostly push wider, offsetting NAV gains.

In emerging markets valuations look attractive today after the losses across financial markets early this year. PIMCO's investment process is founded upon our macroeconomic outlook and our in-house country and credit research.

Emerging markets offer attractive alternatives to fixed income investors searching for yield amid the trillions of dollars of negative-, zero-, and low-yielding debt globally. Within emerging market hard currency investment grade bonds, we think it is prudent to be shorter duration or at least hedge the Treasury risk component, given the low yield per unit of duration today.

Past experience shows us that emerging markets have historically reacted positively to higher global rates, especially if the latter reflects an improving global growth outlook. Most emerging markets will start normalizing rates well before the U.S. and developed markets.

Acies Acquisition Corp. (NASDAQ: ACACU, the

Reviewing earnings releases and calls is a good discipline to follow, like having regular performance reviews with employees.

GM stock closed at 37.41, up 4.6% – pushing shares for the year in the black (up 2.2%) for the first time since Jan. 2.