Markets

Dan Close, Head of Municipals at Nuveen and Margot Kleinman, Director of Research at the firm, joins The Bond Buyer's Lynne Funk to delve into the high-yield market as the New Year — and new rate environment — kick off.

Despite the post-election selloff, inflows continued this week as LSEG Lipper reported investors added $1.263 billion to municipal bond mutual funds for the week ending Wednesday, compared to $658.5 million of inflows the prior week. High-yield inflows returned.

The red wave that took the presidency and the Senate — along with increased odds of a Republican victory in the House — was hanging heavily over fixed income markets Wednesday, with munis and UST yields rising up to 17 basis points, with the largest losses out long.

"If the GOP wins the House, the specter of risk to the municipal bond tax-exemption will increase," said Edwin Oswald, a tax partner at Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe in Washington D.C.

"A victory for former President Trump is likely to be viewed as ushering in a more inflationary environment, whereas a win for Vice President Harris will probably be seen as closer to the status quo," said Erik Weisman, chief economist and portfolio manager at MFS Investment Management."

Investors should "brace themselves" for further volatility, as uncertainty is likely to remain, said Tom Kozlik, managing director and head of public policy and municipal strategy at HilltopSecurities.

The Philadelphia-based university straddles the higher education and healthcare sectors, but market demand suggests it's greater than the sum of its parts.

Issuance will "not completely disappear, but will adjust to its seasonal norm from the record-breaking pace of the past several months," said Barclays' Mikhail Foux.

Observers say the decision may be a credit positive for the financially struggling utility

October's "price path has created wider spreads but also brought higher yields that are now in the range where a broader audience may begin to take notice," said NewSquare Capital Senior Fixed Income Portfolio Manager Kim Olsan, noting higher taxable equivalent yields for different tenors of the yield curve.