Secondary bond market

Fed rate cuts "should lead to positive price action for both taxable and tax-exempt bonds, and current nominal yields remain well above where they were when the Fed was more dovish, implying generous room to rally from here," said Matt Fabian, a partner at Municipal Market Analytics, Inc.

Despite the underperformance to USTs, munis saw positive momentum during the first two weeks of September with the asset class returning 0.68% so far this month and 1.99% year-to-date.

While supply falls next week as investors await their first Fed rate cut in four years, it should pick up after the FOMC, Barclays PLC said, adding the 30-day visible pipeline "is at relatively manageable levels at the moment." Bond Buyer 30-day visible supply is at $10.09 billion.

Municipal bond mutual funds saw inflows as investors added $1.258 billion to funds — the second-largest inflow figure year-to-date after $1.413 billion of inflows for the week ending Jan. 31.

The August consumer price index showed inflation remains above the Federal Reserve's target level and makes a 50-basis-point rate cut next week unlikely, economists said. Further, many expect the market will be disappointed going forward, as future cuts will likely be shallower than expected.

Municipals lagged the UST moves again, cheapening ratios and creating a valuable entry point for investors looking for compelling taxable equivalent yields, particularly 10-years and out.

"Despite the underperformance of tax-exempt yields last week, we could see some more pressure on both spreads and ratios due to the heavy supply calendar," said Vikram Rai, head of municipal markets strategy at Wells Fargo.

Municipal supply continues to grow as Bond Buyer 30-day visible supply sits at $20.02 billion and the municipal market will see one of the largest weeks of new-issuance at an estimated $13.35 billion, led by three billion-plus deals from Washington, D.C. ($1.6 billion), the New York City Transitional Finance Authority ($1.5 billion) and Illinois ($1 billion).

Ciraolo, who spent more than 17 years at Goldman Sachs, has been brought on as a senior vice president in corporate and municipal short-term securities to help expand SWS' taxable muni franchise through commercial paper trading.

Municipal bond mutual funds saw inflows as investors added $956 million to funds after $1.047 billion of inflows the week prior, according to LSEG Lipper.