Secondary bond market

The muni market will see "continued strength," said Wesly Pate, senior portfolio manager at Income Research + Management, largely due to a a dearth of new-issue supply.

"Even though it is hard to see the market falling out of bed and underperforming in the near term, we are more cautious going into March," Barclays PLC said in a report.

Ex-IFS Securities head of fixed income Keith Wakefield committed criminal securities and wire fraud from 2017 to 2019, a federal jury in Illinois found.

Municipals were steady to improved in spots in secondary trading as another day of sizable new-issues were well-received in the primary market.

"The debt afforablity study was just released. In this study we outlined how state debt is going to be falling by 60% over an eight year period," state Treasurer Dale Folwell said Tuesday.

The SIFMA Swap Index fell to 3.24% Wednesday, down 50 basis points from 3.74% from the week prior, and 131 basis points from 4.55% it hit on Jan. 24 as swings continued in the VRDO market. Tax-exempt money market funds reversed course to see inflows of almost $4 billion.

The volatility in USTs is giving municipals a difficult run to start February. The asset class lagged the selloff and outperformed the recent rally, which points to its resiliency — but those moves do not come without challenges.

Chad Wildman, executive director, Quantitative Strategies at FMSbonds, and Matthew Smith, founder and CEO of Spline Data, discuss how automation has repositioned the muni market and where participants can find value by using technology tools. Lynne Funk hosts. (45 minutes)

Triple-A scales saw yields rise 10 to 13 basis points following a second day of UST losses as muni investors await a robust new-issue calendar.

Munis saw smaller losses, outperforming a UST sell-off after the employment report came in stronger than expected, leading analysts to suggest Federal Reserve rate cuts may come later than anticipated.