Jessica Lerner

"The identity of the marginal buyer may be shifting, and with that the market's valuation of structure and liquidity," said Matt Fabian, a partner at Municipal Market Analytics.

As technology options grow, firms are looking for ways to streamline and scale workflows.

Demand for munis remains "insatiable," said Daryl Clements, a municipal portfolio manager at AllianceBernstein.

Mulry's career in public finance spanned nearly 40 years. He is remembered as a dedicated and generous colleague and friend.

"Buyer interest comes as forward supply is projected around $20 billion (the high water mark over the last year) while offsetting calls and maturities sit about $2 billion lower, creating a net supply surplus," said Kim Olsan, a senior fixed income portfolio manager at NewSquare Capital.

The muni market enters the last quarter of 2024 in "excellent shape," said GW&K Investment Management partners John Fox, Brian Moreland, Kara South and Martin Tourigny.

Supply ramps up this week to an estimated $13.361 billion, with several billion-dollar pricings on tap.

Municipal bond insurers wrapped $28.921 billion in the first three quarters 2024, a 26.8% increase from the $22.814 billion insured in the first three quarters of 2023, according to LSEG data.

Analysts remain divided about what the stronger-than-expected consumer price index will mean for Federal Reserve policymakers since the Fed appears to be concentrating on the labor market.

With munis establishing "directional footing" in the fourth quarter of this year, the technical backdrop is still the market driver for 2024, said Jeff Lipton, a research analyst and market strategist.

Fixed income is largely underserved in terms of climate risk analytics and sustainability data, said Larry Lawrence, Head of ICE Climate.

Supply is slightly lower this week at nearly $10 billion but not by much, with the pace of supply suggesting $500 billion of issuance for the year could still happen, said Tripp Kaiser, a managing director at Municipal Market Analytics, Inc.

Mutual funds saw inflows to the tune of $1.88 billion last week, marking 14 consecutive weeks of positive fund flows, according to LSEG Lipper. This brings year-to-date inflows to nearly $17 billion.

Muni yields were cut up two to five basis points, depending on the curve, while UST yields rose five to seven basis points, pushing the 10-year UST yields above 4%.

This surge in demand "is no coincidence — it's the result of weeks of relentless inflows, further amplified by the Federal Reserve's recent rate cut," said 16Rock Asset Management CIO James Pruskowski.

Through the integration, Investortool's clients can calculate analytics based on predictive trade levels, filter the live market based on "what's rich or what's cheap" compared to the predictive price and power automation, said James Morris, senior vice president at Investortools.

The larger supply calendar should be "taken down well given the persistent inflows into our market and investors are still sitting on plenty of cash," said Daryl Clements, a municipal portfolio manager at AllianceBernstein.

September volume came in over $44 billion leading volume year-to-date to hit more than $380 billion, just shy of 2023's full-year total issuance.

High-yield muni issuance totals $20 billion year-to-date, "reflecting normalization from relatively depressed levels in 2023 ($7.6 billion over the comparable period), and now virtually equal to the trailing five-year average for the period ($20.1 billion)," said J.P. Morgan strategists, led by Peter DeGroot.

The Investment Company Institute reported $1.329 billion of inflows into municipal bond mutual funds for the week ending Sept. 18 after $1.402 billion of inflows the week prior. Exchange-traded funds saw $55 million of inflows after $1.048 billion of inflows the previous week.