Jessica Lerner

Market support for taxables, particularly those from active issuers, remains firm. Taxables are seeing gains of 1.08% year-to-date, or 50 basis points above a UST index gain, said Kim Olsan, senior fixed income portfolio manager at NewSquare Capital.

The two-week ceasefire with Iran comes to an end Wednesday, though President Donald Trump said Thursday at an event in Las Vegas the war should be ending soon.

Pricing deals on Monday, alerting investors weeks ahead of pricing, and crafting SMA-friendly structures are some of the ways dealers are promoting their deals in a flood of supply.

RBC Capital Markets, Montague DeRose and Acacia Financial Group were new entrants into the top 10, bumping KNN Public Finance, Omnicap Group and Municipal Capital Markets Group.

With customization, asset managers and advisors can better align portfolios with clients' needs.

The top underwriters saw some shuffling, with Stifel Nicolaus and Ramirez entering the top 10 and knocking Barclays and Siebert Williams Shank to 11th and 12th, respectively.

Dealer inventories hit $8.8 billion in unsold variable rate bonds as of noon, Eastern, Tuesday, rising sharply over the past week, said Rick White, an independent consultant with more than 25 years in the industry.

The top 10 issuers accounted for $24.148 billion of total issuance, or 19%, in the quarter.

The sector's challenges have also impacted the overall high-yield education index.

With the "fragile" ceasefire in the United States-Iran conflict underway, the risk of higher rates beyond those from March has largely been removed, said BofA strategists.

During the two-week ceasefire anything could still happen and a "blow up" would create significant volatility, said Kevin McGuigan, director at Municipal Market Analytics.

"It seemed to be a relief rally [Wednesday], and that's what everyone's hoping for. But fundamentally, they're still major issues that need to be addressed, but people seem to be giving that a pass," on Wednesday, said a source.

Financial markets, including the muni market, priced in too much of a "sure thing, done deal" Wednesday morning, said Kyle Gerberding, director of trading, a portfolio manager and partner at Asset Preservation Advisors.

Wednesday's market rally is tied to President Donald Trump's announcement of the temporary ceasefire, which came about Tuesday night, an hour and a half before the president's 8 p.m. deadline, market participants said.

"Historically, the weeks leading up to the April 15 tax day have been challenging for the municipal market, often due to weaker supply and demand dynamics," said Sam Weitzman, a product manager at Western Asset.

Munis saw small gains Thursday, continuing the slight turnaround in sentiment the market has seen this week, with muni yields seeing modest bumps each day, said Jeremy Holtz, a portfolio manager at Income Research + Management.

Issuance was $50.081 billion in 697 issues, up 17.3% year-over-year from $42.709 billion across 726 transactions.

Many investors are waiting to see if the pattern of falling yields continues, according to Chris Brigati, managing director and CIO at SWBC.

The new hires come as nationwide infrastructure needs keep growing and as several firms have left or scaled back their muni efforts.

This strength comes after another "challenging week" for the muni market, which continued to deal with ongoing macroeconomic uncertainty and somewhat heavy supply, said Daryl Clements, a muni portfolio manager at AllianceBernstein.