Buy side

Data for the second quarter show the face amount of munis outstanding rose 0.4% quarter-over-quarter, or $15.5 billion, to $4.043 trillion.

The long-time high-yield muni manager left Nuveen in April when the firm settled a contentious lawsuit with Preston Hollow.

Loop Capital Markets CEO Jim Reynolds, Jr. said he would gladly pay a bit more for a muni bond that tackled gang violence in Chicago during a debate on ESG factors among market veterans at The Bond Buyer's infrastructure conference this week.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic Gretchen Sherwood has co-lead Nixon Peabody's Project Finance and Public Finance practice groups' 50 member bi-weekly team calls.

Building off his success in creating a revolutionary website as Massachusetts assistant treasurer of debt management, BondLink founder Colin MacNaught has grown his firm into 45 states.

With around 30% of bonds trading near the de minimis threshold, a new study takes a deep dive into how the rule drives illiquidity as mutual funds dump paper that's approaching the threshold.

In other asset classes, there has been more transparency, activity and efficiency due to electronic trading. The muni market has been behind in realizing how beneficial electronic trading can be, sources said.

Healthcare and transportation had the biggest contraction in issuance volume.

Bond for the private Florida passenger railroad have outpaced their high-yield muni peers as trading volume increased.

July's total volume was $25.939 billion in 542 issues, down from $28.258 billion in 619 issues a year earlier, the smallest percentage drop in monthly issuance year-over-year in 2023, according to Refinitiv data.

As ESG issuance has grown around the globe, so have investor demands, international standards for it and regulatory rulemaking around it. Citi's Aoiffe McGarry and Fitch's Megan Neuburger discuss with The Bond Buyer's Lynne Funk.

Customers of Investortools can now access the MarketAxess products through the Investortools Dealer Network.

The fund aims to provide capital preservation and use hedging strategies designed to minimize interest rate, event and directional risk.

Some in the industry already use AI to help determine fair bid and offer prices and to summarize new-issue offering statements, but full integration into all aspects of the market is a ways away.

Municipal bond mutual fund inflows returned as Refinitiv Lipper reported investors added $672.288 million for the week ending Wednesday following $256.532 million of outflows the week prior.

Federal Reserve data shows that retail ownership of municipals rose $58.8 billion, or 3.7% quarter-over-quarter, to $1.67 trillion. Bank ownership fell in the first quarter by $13.3 billion.

Reinvestments, which includes maturities, called bonds and coupons, total over $114 billion over the next four months, according to ICE Data.

"Ultimately, the case for fixed income generally, and munis specifically, is much stronger today than it was a year ago," said Nick Vendetti, municipal bond fund portfolio manager with Allspring Global Investments.

Brightline's luxury train in Florida accounts for half of the Nuveen High Yield Municipal Bond Fund's top 10 positions.

Despite legislation and political rhetoric, demand for environmental, social, and governance focused debt remains strong.