MZF News and Press, Managed Duration Investment Grade Municipal Fund From 03/27/19

With last year’s tax package in full bloom, improving tax efficiency is top of mind for many investors. Municipal bond ETFs are worth considering. Tax preparers everywhere are explaining to clients what they can expect with this year’s tax filing. Going forward, investors w...

By John R. Mousseau, CFA, Gabriel Hament and Patricia Healy, CFA There have been headlines recently describing the drop in state tax revenues versus forecasts for some of the higher-tax states such as California, New York, and New Jersey. Part of the falloff is due to an exodus of higher-i...

Read more ...

Read more ...

By Patricia Healy, CFA Has The Municipal Credit Cycle Plateaued? Many positive indicators suggest that the municipal credit cycle has yet to plateau. Upgrades continue to outpace downgrades; the US economy is still growing; federal tax reform boosted revenues in fiscal 2018; and rainy ...

Read more ...

Read more ...

By Sheila Amoroso, Senior Vice President, Director, Municipal Bond Department, Franklin Templeton Fixed Income Group Municipal bond yields moved higher in 2018 and seem likely to continue moving up in 2019 if market expectations for further interest-rate increases play out. Sheila Amoros...

By Patricia Healy, CFA Today's municipal bond market is anything but "sleepy," as Spencer Jakab characterized it in his Wall Street Journal article, "Prophet of Muni Market Doom Wasn't Wrong, Just Early" (10/26/2018). The Prophet of Doom he referred to was Meredith Whitney, who shortly b...

The current U.S. economic expansion is now the second-longest in the postwar era, and while it may have more room to run, we believe a recession is likely over the three- to five-year horizon. As U.S. taxpayers think about positioning their portfolios, we see three key reasons why the tax-ex...