Jessica Lerner

Municipal bond mutual funds saw the second week of outflows as investors pulled $217.6 million from the funds after $546.2 million of outflows the week prior, according to LSEG Lipper. High-yield saw inflows again.

The ongoing influx of new-issue supply has pushed muni-UST ratios to at or near year-to-date highs, J.P. Morgan strategists said.

Dan Tomson, Citi's former co-head of Municipal Banking and Public Finance, and David Stephan, a former J.P. Morgan executive director, have joined the firm.

Several weeks of elevated supply should theoretically be "weighing more on performance, but the market is now just ahead of its largest reinvestment season, which so far in 2024 has become even more pronounced, with an additional $19.5 billion scheduled for call/redemption between [June 1 and August 30]," said Matt Fabian, a partner at Municipal Market Analytics.

"While we acknowledge that the market tone is weaker [Monday], we are generally constructive regarding valuations and expect this week's supply to be absorbed fairly well after last week's giveback of the richening witnessed over prior weeks," said Vikram Rai, head of municipal markets strategy at Wells Fargo.

"The industry is built on relationships, and it's powered by technology," said Josh Rosenblum, head of algorithmic trading at Brownstone.

There are nearly 30 new-issues over $100 million on tap across the credit spectrum, led by the week's largest negotiated deal from Harris County, Texas, with $950 million of toll road first lien revenue and refunding bonds. The competitive calendar ticks up with several high-grade names.

Muni exchange-traded funds are "dominated" by retail and are "momentum driven," said David Litvack, a tax-exempt strategist and chief investment officer at BofA.

The CPI print keeps the possibility of the Fed cutting rates at least once this year, potentially at least two rate cuts if the data continues to point to a trend of inflation falling further, said Jeff Lipton, a research analyst and market strategist.

This week's issuance is above the 2024's year-to-date weekly average of $7.6 billion, said Chris Brigati, senior vice president and director of strategic planning and fixed income research at SWBC.

Creedon has "tremendous capacity" as a banker, with experience in sectors outside of Janney's current business, such as tobacco securitization, and in geographical areas where the firm is seeking to grow, said Vivian Altman, Janney's head of public finance.

With the market "hungry" for high-yield bonds, declining cigarette sales have not had as much of an impact "as maybe it should or could in the future," said John Miller, head and chief investment officer of First Eagle's High Yield Municipal Credit team.

The muni market improvement has the asset class seeing gains of 1.08% so far in May, as year-to-date returns inch closer to "positive territory," said Jason Wong, vice president of municipals at AmeriVet Securities.

The New York City Transitional Finance Authority leads the new-issue calendar with a total of $1.8 billion of future tax-secured subordinate bonds in the negotiated and competitive markets.

Municipal bond mutual funds saw another week of inflows as investors added $1.053 billion in the week ending Wednesday, the second-largest figure this year.

The University repriced to lower yields up to 15 basis points Wednesday while Illinois accellerated its pricing of its tax-exempt GOs and were repriced yesterday afternoon with bumps of 10 to 13 basis points and saw $1.5 billion of retail orders alone.

April's "poor performance" pushed munis further into negative territory, but "despite the poor start to the year, they may still end the year positive," said Cooper Howard, a fixed-income strategist at Charles Schwab.

There is a town hall scheduled for Monday, according to a source.

The "historical runway" heading into Memorial Day is favorable, rolling into the summer redemption months of June through August, said James Pruskowski, chief investment officer at 16Rock Asset Management.

Healthcare issuance is up 122.2% year-over-year through April, rising to $9.062 billion through the first four months of 2024 from $4.078 billion over the same time period in 2023, LSEG data shows.