Primary bond market

High-yield muni issuance totals $20 billion year-to-date, "reflecting normalization from relatively depressed levels in 2023 ($7.6 billion over the comparable period), and now virtually equal to the trailing five-year average for the period ($20.1 billion)," said J.P. Morgan strategists, led by Peter DeGroot.

Matthew McQueen, Head of Municipal Banking and Markets and Global Mortgages within the Global Markets business at Bank of America, sits down with Bond Buyer Executive Editor Lynne Funk to talk about getting deals done amid an uncertain global macroeconomic landscape.

The Investment Company Institute reported $1.329 billion of inflows into municipal bond mutual funds for the week ending Sept. 18 after $1.402 billion of inflows the week prior. Exchange-traded funds saw $55 million of inflows after $1.048 billion of inflows the previous week.

Demand for munis looks "fairly stable" for now, particularly after the 10- to 25-basis-point rally ended in the 30 days before the Federal Reserve cut rates last week, Municipal Market Analytics, Inc. said, noting the "bull-steepening adjustment" looks like the 30-day move before the beginning of the Fed's last cutting cycle, at the end of July 2019.

S&P Global Ratings placed more than 400 state and local government issuers under criteria observation as the agency adopts an updated rating methodology.

Water agencies in Texas, Oklahoma, and Denver are selling a combined nearly $2 billion of triple-A-rated bonds this week.

NYPA's green designation and two credit upgrades are drawing lots of attention in a crowded market.

Several factors make the current market "an attractive entry point" into the muni market, AllianceBernstein strategists said. For one, municipal valuations are cheap to fair value relative to U.S. Treasuries, partially due to the surge of supply in 2024.

The Los Angeles Unified School District bonds carry a sustainability label with a third party opinion from Kestrel.

"Active ETFs are becoming an integral part of investor portfolios around the world, with financial advisors increasingly incorporating them into their models-based practice," a BlackRock spokesperson said.