Tax

Yields rose significantly for the fourth time this week as the aftereffects of President Donald Trump's tariffs continue to plague the financial markets.

"The discussion about policies regarding tariffs will drive performance in bonds over the next three to six months," said Michael Pietronico, CEO of Miller Tabak Asset Management.

From 90 basis points of movement in three days to rising ETF influence and potential tax status changes to municipal securities, this timely discussion from Thursday's Texas Public Finance event features real-time analysis and sharp insights from muni leaders at Morgan Stanley, BlackRock, Nuveen, Truist, and PFM.

Speaking live at The Bond Buyer's Texas Public Finance Conference in Austin, leading muni voices broke down the historic rate swings that rocked the market this week, the growing impact of investor behavior, and the uncertain path ahead for tax policy — offering candid assessments, sharp data points, and diverging views on what investors and other market participants should expect next.

Triple-A muni yields plummeted up to 50 basis points Thursday in a dramatic reversal from the week's earlier collapse. Speaking live at The Bond Buyer's Texas Public Finance event, market leaders painted a picture of extreme volatility, impaired liquidity, and an uncertain path forward.

The Bond Buyer took the pulse of municipal bond market pros to see what they are doing and advising in the midst of the volatility driven by President Trump's shifting tariff policies.

"The equity market is looking at this more positively, but bonds are still thinking, 'Well, these tariffs still have to be resolved,'" said Kim Olsan, a senior fixed income portfolio manager at NewSquare Capital.

The top 25 state and local pension funds alone have seen the value of their public equities investments drop by a total of nearly a quarter of a trillion dollars in 2025, with roughly $169 billion of those losses coming during the four trading days that followed the Trump administration's April 2 announcement on global tariffs, a think tank said Wednesday.

Stocks surged moments after Trump's announcement of the 90-day pause for most countries on high tariffs he announced last week that have roiled markets.

Municipal AAA yield curves were cut up to another 42 basis points, depending on the curve, as of noon, pushing yields to multi-year highs and long-end muni to UST ratios above 100%. Muni yields have risen up to nearly 100 basis points in spots since the bond market rout began.