Fund Evaluator:

Nuveen High Yield Municipal Bond I Overview

Nuveen High Yield Municipal Bond I (NHMRX) is an actively managed Municipal Bond High Yield Muni fund. Nuveen launched the fund in 1999.

The investment seeks high current income exempt from regular federal income taxes; capital appreciation is a secondary objective. Under normal market conditions, the fund invests at least 80% of the sum of its net assets and the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes in municipal bonds that pay interest that is exempt from regular federal personal income tax. It invests significantly in lower-quality long-term municipal bonds and may invest up to 15% of its net assets in municipal securities whose interest payments vary inversely with changes in short-term tax-exempt interest rates (“inverse floaters”).

About Nuveen High Yield Municipal Bond I (NHMRX)

There are 3 members of the management team with an average tenure of 2.62 years: Daniel Close (2023), Steven Hlavin (2025), Stephen Candido (2023). Management tenure is more important for actively managed funds than passive index funds.

The fund has 2 primary benchmarks: S&P Municipal Bond TR index with a weighting of 100% and S&P Municipal Yield TR USD index with a weighting of 100%. Nuveen High Yield Municipal Bond I has 2854 securities in its portfolio. The top 10 holdings constitute 8.3% of the fund’s assets. The fund meets the SEC requirement of being classified as a diversified fund. The fund is not considered to have an ESG focus with its investment selection and management.

Nuveen High Yield Municipal Bond I is part of the Fixed Income global asset class and is within the Municipal Bond fund group. Nuveen High Yield Municipal Bond I has 7.7% of its portfolio invested in foreign issues. The overall assets allocated to domestic stock is 0.0%. There is 0.0% allocated to foreign stock, and 0.0% is allocated to preferred stocks. The bond allocation as a percentage of total assets is 92.6% (84.9% domestic bond, 7.7% foreign bond and 0.0% convertible bond). Nuveen High Yield Municipal Bond I has 7.4% of the portfolio in cash.

Assets Under Management

The fund has $6 billion in total assets, which is above the $803 million average for the High Yield Muni category. Normally, lower assets under management translates to higher average expense ratios, and greater total assets are desired. However, for some investment categories, such as small-cap investing, it may be difficult for the manager to fully employ the desired active strategy if assets grow too large or too quickly.

NHMRX Performance and Fees

The expense ratio measures how much of a fund’s assets are used for administrative expenses and operating expenses, including adviser fees and fees for the transfer agent and custodial services. The Nuveen High Yield Municipal Bond I expense ratio is high compared to funds in the High Yield Muni category. Nuveen High Yield Municipal Bond I has an expense ratio of 1.70%, which is 74% higher than its category average, making the fund expense ratio grade a F. While it is difficult to predict returns, it is known that high annual expense ratios reduce your rate of return, and excessive fees are difficult to overcome. Active management normally comes with higher expense ratios than passive index management. Certain investment categories such as small company and foreign also normally have higher expense ratios. It is best to compare fund expense ratios against the category averages for meaningful assessments.

High portfolio turnover can translate to higher expenses and lower aftertax returns. Nuveen High Yield Municipal Bond I has a portfolio turnover rate of 15%, indicating that holds its assets around 0.1 years. By way of comparison, the average portfolio turnover is 51% for the High Yield Muni category.

Recently, in the month of July 2026, Nuveen High Yield Municipal Bond I returned -2.2%, which earned it a grade of F, as the High Yield Muni category had an average return of -1.8%. The letter grades of A, B, C, D and F are based upon relative rankings within the investment category. A grade of A, for example, would indicate that the return is in the highest 20% for that time period compared to all funds in that category.

Nuveen High Yield Municipal Bond I has a trailing yield of 5.73%, which is above the 4.46% category average. The fund normally distributes its income monthly and its capital gains annually.

It’s natural to seek the best-performing investments, but you must consider the relationship between risk and return and the impact of costs and taxes on your realized returns.

Nuveen High Yield Municipal Bond I Grades

Year to date, the fund has returned 2.1%, 0.6 percentage points better than the category, which translates into a grade of A. The fund has returned 9.4% over the past year (grade of A), 3.8% over the past three years (grade of D) and -0.1% per year over the past five years (grade of D) and 3.0% per year over the past 10 years (grade of A).

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