Nuveen Quality Municipal Income Fund

NAD

Market cap $2.79B

The investment case for closed-end funds (CEFs) is weak now due to tight discounts, high leverage costs, and expensive underlying assets. Most CEFs do not deliver sustainable alpha, and lower-fee actively managed ETFs now offer similar exposures with better economics. We have reduced our CEF allocation, favoring alternatives like BDCs, select ETFs, preferreds, and bonds for better value and risk/reward.

NAD offers a high 8% tax-exempt yield, but its share price and NAV have struggled, amid high interest rates and aggressive leverage. The fund's discount to NAV is historically narrow, making current accumulation less attractive compared to its long-term average. Dividend sustainability is questionable, due to inconsistent earnings and reliance on realized gains, raising the risk of a near-term dividend cut.

Fund-level leverage is only attractive when carry or capital gains potential is high; current tight spreads and an inverted yield curve make it less appealing. For tax-exempt CEFs, higher yields often come from longer duration, not leverage; unleveraged long-duration funds or ETFs can offer similar or better yields. Investors should not assume more leverage is always better; careful, situation-specific exposure to fund-level leverage is key to balancing risk and return.

Stocks—especially dividend stocks—have every reason to shoot higher from here. In fact, they have 7 trillion reasons.

One of the only downsides to passive income from stocks and bonds is that the revenue generated from those investments is subject to federal and state income tax.

The credit cycle is arguably deteriorating. Thus, we see investors moving out of corporate credit and into Municipal bonds with hybrid general obligation and revenue exposure. Nuveen Quality Muni Income Fund seems like a prime candidate given its GO and revenue exposure. Moreover, it embodies the excess TEY-treasury spreads on offer. Some might oppose its leveraged strategy due to the effect on its expense ratio and the risks leverage adds in down markets. However, we see lower funding costs emerging.

Evaluating Nuveen Quality Muni Income Fund as an investment due to its current market price and high yield above 8%. NAD's recent price weakness in 2025 appears overdone, presenting a potential buying opportunity. The fund aims to provide income exempt from federal tax and enhance portfolio value.

The stock market has been ugly (particularly growth stocks), and it could get much worse. Thankfully, however, there is another way. Income investing focuses on big, steady dividend and interest payments, thereby allowing investors to worry far less about price volatility (as long as those big income payments keep coming in). This report shares 5 big safe yield strategies (including a variety of top income ideas), and then concludes with an important takeaway about succeeding in this market.

One of the only downsides to passive income from stocks and bonds is that the revenue generated from those investments is subject to federal and state income tax.

If you were taking a break from your family on Christmas Day, you may have caught my article on how Jay Powell's recent “hawkish cut” is set to light a fire under high-yielding (and tax-free!) municipal bonds.