Jessica Lerner

"The Fed remains data dependent as always, but it now appears that the 'more good data' bar is not as high as it was before, particularly with labor market developments becoming more important," said Michael Gregory, deputy chief economist at BMO Economics.

Issuance was lumpy in July, with three weeks of $10 billion issuance sandwiched between lower issuance due to the Fourth of July holiday at the start of the month and the FOMC meeting the last week.

Yields may move lower after the Federal Reserve "communicates its goals to ease policy in coming meetings," said Tom Kozlik, managing director and head of public policy and municipal strategy at HilltopSecurities.

"The overall muni market appears to be in a good balance despite the hefty slate of primary issuance that has occurred over the past few months," Birch Creek Capital strategists said.

U.S. Soccer will issue $200 million of tax-exempt revenue bonds through the Fayette County Development Authority. 

With Antonelli's hiring, IMTC will be able to more efficiently scale fixed-income management and maximize alpha opportunities for clients, the firm said.

The muni market tends to have "remarkable patience" in relation to USTs, said BofA strategists.

Despite munis being mixed Thursday, the muni AAA yield curve remains inverted, said Taylor Huffman, a client portfolio manager at PTAM.

Municipal bond insurance grew 24.4% in the first half, compared to the same period last year.

"While supply has been outsized over the last several weeks, the market has also seen outsized reinvestment demand over the last several months," said Nuveen strategists.

This week again sees elevated supply, as issuance sits at $9.673 billion, with Tuesday being a very busy day.

The initial reaction was a little bit a flight-to-quality trade in rates, which is supportive of USTs and munis as safe-haven assets do well during times of uncertainty, said Chris Brigati, senior vice president and director of strategic planning and fixed income research at SWBC.

The high-yield sector continues to show strength, with inflows of $364.4 million for the week ending Wednesday, marking 13 straight weeks of inflows, according to LSEG Lipper.

The new-issue calendar is at $9.7 billion the week, led by the Texas Transportation Commission with $1.7 billion of first-tier and second-tier revenue refunding bonds.

Municipal bond mutual funds saw inflows as investors added $891.4 million to funds after $775.3 million of inflows the week prior, according to LSEG Lipper.

Issuance has remained robust over the past two weeks, with Wednesday being a particularly busy day.

Volume is predicted to continue at "robust levels," possibly through the fourth quarter, said Matt Fabian, a partner at Municipal Market Analytics.

Financial markets are trying to "absorb" the outcome of higher odds of Trump winning in November, said James Pruskowski, chief investment officer at 16Rock Asset Management.

In the summer, the market will largely move "sideways" and underperform late in the third quarter to early in the fourth quarter, "while possibly recouping most of its losses late in the year depending on the outcome of November elections," said Barclays strategists.

"Bond yields are plunging [Thursday] as rate cut expectations soar following this morning's consumer price index release, which depicted the first month of deflation since July 2022," noted José Torres, senior economist at Interactive Brokers.