Investment funds

"Munis are poised to continue this rally into December as we can end 2022 on a high note and close out the worst-performing year on record for munis," said Jason Wong, vice president of municipals at AmeriVet Securities.

Munis saw the best performance in November in decades, with the asset class ending in the positive by 4.68%. The MSRB reported that trading volume reached another record in November, with 1.29 million municipal trades.

Markets took the news that it will soon be appropriate to increase the Fed funds target rate at a slower pace as good news.

The negotiated calendar this week is very light due to the Thanksgiving holiday, with only four deals above $100 million.

Issuance shrinks to $722 million while Bond Buyer 30-day visible supply sits at little more than $7 billion.

Municipals improved again Thursday, pushing the 10-year yield firmly below 3%, while Refinitiv Lipper reported $604.704 million of inflows into municipal bond mutual funds for the week ending Wednesday.

As market participants navigate through the remaining weeks of 2022, Jeff Lipton, managing director of credit research at Oppenheimer Inc., expects munis to maintain their outperformance over USTs

Munis were in their own lane while broader markets were mixed Monday as participants digested various Fed officials' comments on inflation and rate hike schedules.

Refinitiv Lipper reported $2.537 billion of outflows from municipal bond mutual funds for the week ending Wednesday after $2.389 billion the week prior.

Municipal bond mutual funds saw more losses on Wednesday with the Investment Company Institute reporting another week of multi-billion-dollar outflows, bringing year-to-date losses to $123.3 billion.

The market has seen outflows for 13 straight weeks, per Refinitiv Lipper, but Nuveen strategists Anders S. Persson and John V. Miller said "selling is due primarily to investors harvesting tax losses."

High-yield saw outflows of $867.067 million after $594.497 million of outflows the week prior while exchange-traded funds saw inflows of $736.967 million after $444.544 million of inflows the previous week.

Investors pulled $3.843 billion from mutual funds in the week ending Oct. 26 after $3.876 billion of outflows the previous week, according to ICI.

Outflows continued as investors pulled $3.876 billion from mutual funds in the week ending Oct. 19 after $4.532 billion of outflows the previous week, according to the Investment Company Institute.

"The curve slope has undergone a massive flattening this year and recent trends suggest demand pockets are developing in specific ranges," said Kim Olsan, senior vice president of municipal bond trading at FHN Financial.

Outflows continued as investors pulled $4.532 billion from mutual funds in the week ending Oct. 12 after $5.172 billion of outflows the previous week, according to the Investment Company Institute.

U.S. Treasuries saw more losses and municipal to UST ratios fell on the day's moves with the long bond valuation below 100%.

Bids wanteds are on the rise, but a constructive secondary market showed a steady to firmer market in the past two sessions. ICI's latest outflows figure is the highest since June.

Triple-A yields rose more than three-quarters of a point on the front end and nearly half a point out long in September as munis posted 3.84% losses.

For the first three quarters, total issuance sits at $308.440 billion, down from $361.932 billion in 2021. Taxables are down 48.0% to $45.724 billion from $87.979 billion.