Securitization

The fund's sell-off in June shows the challenges of accurate pricing in the high-yield muni market.

Larger dealer networks lead to lower markups, but smaller networks show evidence of potential collusion and market manipulation, the paper said.

Longer-term munis have become more attractive, said Cooper Howard, a fixed income strategist at Charles Schwab.

There is a buyer base that is a little bit "skeptical" of longer maturities, but it's more of a retail response, said Adam Congdon, a director at Payden & Rygel.

While the cost of small trades is higher than institutional trades across all fixed-income markets, the gap is more pronounced in the municipal bond market.

The primary market saw "decent subscriptions" last week, but the entire primary calendar came at "healthy concessions to where evals had been marked on existing bonds," Birch Creek strategists said.

First Southern LLC failed to timely and accurately report on trades executed for an affiliated hedge fund, FINRA said.

The week was a long-awaited reckoning with record supply, said Kim Olsan, senior fixed income portfolio manager at NewSquare Capital.

Munis are "under pressure as elevated primary supply collides with lackluster seasonal reinvestment flows, leaving dealers heavy and buyers selective," said James Pruskowski, an investor and market strategist.

As the market continues to contend with the surge in issuance, investors still have a significant amount of cash that can be put to work, said Jeremy Holtz, a portfolio manager at Income Research + Management.

As always, economists had disparate interpretations of the consumer price index, with none expecting a July rate cut. And tariff questions remain unanswered.

Prices for some bonds issued for Florida's express train have fallen sharply since Friday.

"The muni market seemed to ignore Treasuries [last] week, marching to its own beat," said Birch Creek strategists.

New York issuers lead a $9 billion slate.

The market has seen some "weirdness" in the muni curve, said Craig Brandon, co-head of muni investments at Morgan Stanley Investment Management.

"Municipal outperformance against taxable sectors has moved short-term ratios on or through their 252-day moving averages, while intermediate and long maturities are holding at or above average ranges," said Kim Olsan, senior fixed income portfolio manager at NewSquare Capital.

"Market volatility is likely to pick up, but the latest development does not constitute an escalation in the trade war," according to UBS strategists.

Markets are "tilting to a risk-off posture as participants brace for the chance of Trump tariff-sparked turbulence in the coming hours and days," said José Torres, senior economist at Interactive Brokers.

UST yields rose across the curve in response to the employment report with the two-year rising nearly 10 basis points while municipals largely ignored the moves and ratios fell as a result.

The growth of the muni market comes as issuance surges, with the first half of the year seeing $280.64 billion of supply, up 14.3% year-over-year, according to LSEG.