Finance

The market rally "took a bit of a breather last week, with yields rising across the curve," said Daryl Clements, a portfolio manager at AllianceBernstein.

In 2017, the BDA hired a lobbying firm as Congress wrote a tax reform bill. This time, the group opted for a strategic communications firm.

"March is not an overly positive month for munis, but a lot will depend on U.S. Treasuries," said Barclays strategist Mikhail Foux.

The $550 million deal from an issuer with two triple-A ratings includes about $250 million for refunding and an $85 million taxable piece.

"Markets fixate on one risk at a time, and there's no shortage right now. Volatility has spiked, liquidity is thin, and buyers are sidelined — but that's temporary," said James Pruskowski, chief investment officer at 16Rock Asset Management.

Issuance remains heavy this week, but while it's elevated, the muni market is "structurally undersupplied," meaning if 2024's record level of $500 billion-plus of issuance was doubled, the market could still digest it quite well, said Wesly Pate, a senior portfolio manager at Income Research + Management.

Short-end U.S. Treasuries rallied mid-morning, while UST yields were little changed out long, but ended the day weaker across most of the curve with the greatest losses out long. Munis were steady throughout the day.

S&P Global Ratings primarily cited a "precipitous decline" in unrestricted cash to explain its triple-notch downgrade of the system.

"Apathy and caution" were the theme of the past week, said Birch Creek strategists.

The Trump administration wants to shed federal office space, and bonds backed by those leases are feeling the heat.