Jessica Lerner

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.

Demand for munis looks "fairly stable" for now, particularly after the 10- to 25-basis-point rally ended in the 30 days before the Federal Reserve cut rates last week, Municipal Market Analytics, Inc. said, noting the "bull-steepening adjustment" looks like the 30-day move before the beginning of the Fed's last cutting cycle, at the end of July 2019.

This collaboration allows users with a DPC Data subscription to access content directly within BondWave's Effi, providing Effi users with more information for all municipal bond positions in their portfolio.

Several factors make the current market "an attractive entry point" into the muni market, AllianceBernstein strategists said. For one, municipal valuations are cheap to fair value relative to U.S. Treasuries, partially due to the surge of supply in 2024.

"Active ETFs are becoming an integral part of investor portfolios around the world, with financial advisors increasingly incorporating them into their models-based practice," a BlackRock spokesperson said.

While the municipal market barely budged following the Fed's decision to cut rates 50 basis points, Thursday saw muni yields rise up to two basis points, depending on the scale, but still lagged the weakness in USTs. LSEG Lipper reported $716 million of inflows into municipal bond mutual funds.

The product is designed to give SOLVE's customers visibility into "next-trade" pricing data for more than 900,000 munis.

For municipals, Wednesday "marks a crucial step forward, perfectly aligned with the current risk landscape," said James Pruskowski, chief investment officer for 16Rock Asset Management.

Fed rate cuts "should lead to positive price action for both taxable and tax-exempt bonds, and current nominal yields remain well above where they were when the Fed was more dovish, implying generous room to rally from here," said Matt Fabian, a partner at Municipal Market Analytics, Inc.

"Given increasing student demand for charter schools, we anticipate continued strong supply issued into the municipal market," according to Nuveen.

Despite the underperformance to USTs, munis saw positive momentum during the first two weeks of September with the asset class returning 0.68% so far this month and 1.99% year-to-date.