TAXF News and Press, American Century Diversified Municipal Bond From 01/25/23

Summary Daryl Clements: No one expected, not even the Fed, the amount of increases that they put through, but nevertheless, that’s what happened. Daryl Clements: The broad municipal benchmark had a yield of 1.11 at the beginning of 2022, end of the year at 3.55. In fact, it was o...

Summary There’s a lot going for the municipal market as we head into 2023. The current supply/demand imbalance benefits municipal bond investors. Buying opportunities exist across the municipal market - especially in those areas that sold off the most in 2022, such as longer-...

Summary When rates increase, prices decline: the broad muni market, as measured by the Bloomberg Muni Bond Index, fell −8.53%. While we expect 2023 to be a bounce back year, we don’t foresee the historical 13% average bounce back that has occurred after past negative retur...

Summary Active fixed-income ETFs allow portfolio managers to stay nimble and avoid sectors and parts of the credit spectrum that might encounter increased stress. There are now a growing number of dividend ETFs that are focused on yield and offer responsiveness to evolving sector dynami...

Summary While upgrades outpaced downgrades in 2022, we expect an even more stable rating environment in 2023. Q3 was a relatively busy quarter for state rating actions — in Q4 there was one rating change and a couple of outlook changes. Moody’s updated its methodology ...

Summary In 2022, historically high inflation led global central banks to make a series of bold tightening moves. In the U.S., it’s our view that inflation may gradually move toward the Federal Reserve’s (Fed) 2% goal over the year. With a hamstrung Fed, the global outl...

Summary We believe that 2023 will be a much better year for municipal bonds as they should resume their historical role of income generation, capital preservation and offset to equity volatility. Muni investors will need to leverage the market’s many tools as conditions shift. ...

Summary The bond market began its own comeback during the fall with the Consumer Price Index report of November 10, reporting on October’s inflation. Longer-term municipal bonds have also seen a drop in yields. Most bond market selloffs of the magnitude we have witnessed this...

Summary As the Fed steps away from being the largest buyer of longer-maturity Treasuries, new buyers will have to step in to fill this void, which may lead to continued volatility in longer-term U.S. Treasury rates. Amid the recent spike in rates, the volatility of lower-coupon bonds in...

Summary Rate hikes and tighter financial conditions drove fixed-income returns lower in 2022. The broad repricing of bonds and the higher starting yields we have now can help insulate investors from further losses. If we look at international bonds, this is probably the first ...