MNP News and Press, Western Asset Municipal Partners Fund Inc. From 03/10/21

Stronger fundamentals, undervalued segments and an improving economic outlook point to renewed potential for municipal bonds in 2021. Multiple catalysts fuel our optimism, including the probability of higher taxes, the likelihood of renewed fiscal stimulus and the potential for contin...

Global manufacturing PMI buoyed by further strong gains in production. Robust growth seen in the US, Eurozone, India and Brazil despite supply chain delays close to record high. Expansion limited by further slowdown in China, in turn linked to shipping and logistics problems. ...

Technicals and politics kept muni returns resilient to government rate rises... until now. While Treasuries have been selling off (pushing up their yields) on the reopening of the economy and inflation expectations, municipal bonds (munis) had remained resilient. For potentially m...

Why the run-up in rates has troubled equity markets more than credit, and why we think that is poised to continue. Since the start of the fourth quarter of 2020, the U.S. 10-year yield has risen by more than 80 basis points while the spread of the ICE Bank of America U.S. Corporate BB...

As an investor, municipal bonds could offer you tax-exempt income, which can carry more attractive advantages if current tax rates increase, and higher income-generating capabilities after accounting for tax. Don't let market-wide panic disrupt your investment plan. As an investor, mu...

Legg Mason Partners Fund Advisor, LLC announced today that certain closed end funds have declared their distributions for the months of March, April, and May 2021. The following dates apply to the distribution schedule below: Western Asset Municipal Defined Opportunity Trust I...

Strong performance has continued to stretch rich muni bond valuations. We expect strong demand to continue outpacing elevated supply. Additional fiscal aid and vaccine distribution could support fundamentals. For further details see: Munis Off To A Running Start

Municipal bonds have done well since the election, since a Democratic Administration is typically good for additional state and local relief, even more badly needed this year thanks to the pandemic. Also, it's pretty clear higher taxes in some form or fashion are on the way, whether i...

The price of risk is what investors demand as a premium, an extra return over and above what they can make on a guaranteed investment (risk free), to invest in a risky asset. Corporate bonds are traded, and as a consequence, and you can use traded prices to estimate default spreads in...

Despite 2020's many challenges, the Bloomberg Barclays Municipal Bond Index was up 5.2%, with returns that were even more compelling for the second half of the year, across the credit spectrum. During the year, we expect net supply to turn negative as more bonds mature or more bonds t...