Municipals deliver strength ahead of seasonal shift

  • Municipals posted positive performance and outperformed comparable Treasuries in February.
  • We expect supply-and-demand dynamics to turn less supportive in the coming months.
  • After patience to start the year, we would view any material backup as an opportunity to buy.

Municipal and Treasury yield movements

 

Munis chart

Source: Refinitiv, Bloomberg, as of 02/29/24.

Patrick Haskell
Head of Municipal Bonds
Patrick Haskell, Managing Director, Head of the Municipal Bond Group within the Portfolio Management Group (PMG) as well as Global Head of Financial Institutions Group Investments Business.
Sean Carney
CIO of Municipal Bond Funds
Sean Carney, Managing Director and Head of the Municipal Strategy team within BlackRock's Municipal Fixed Income business in BlackRock's Portfolio Management Group.

Performance data quoted represents past performance and is no guarantee of future results. Investment returns and principal values may fluctuate so that an investor’s shares, when redeemed, may be worth more or less than their original cost. All returns assume reinvestment of dividends and capital gains. Current performance may be lower or higher than that shown. Refer to blackrock.com for most recent month-end performance.

To obtain more information on the funds, including the Morningstar time period ratings and standardized average annual total returns as of the most recent calendar quarter and current month-end, please visit National Municipal Fund and High Yield Municipal Fund.


The Morningstar RatingTM for funds, or "star rating," is calculated for managed products (including mutual funds, variable annuity and variable life subaccounts, exchange-traded funds, closed-end funds, and separate accounts) with at least a three-year history. Exchange-traded funds and open-ended mutual funds are considered a single population for comparative purposes. It is calculated based on a Morningstar Risk-Adjusted Return measure that accounts for variation in a managed product's monthly excess performance, placing more emphasis on downward variations and rewarding consistent performance. The top 10% of products in each product category receive 5 stars, the next 22.5% receive 4 stars, the next 35% receive 3 stars, the next 22.5% receive 2 stars, and the bottom 10% receive 1 star. The Overall Morningstar Rating for a managed product is derived from a weighted average of the performance figures associated with its three-, five-, and 10-year (if applicable) Morningstar Rating metrics. The weights are: 100% three-year rating for 36-59 months of total returns, 60% five-year rating/40% three-year rating for 60-119 months of total returns, and 50% 10-year rating/30% five-year rating/20% three-year rating for 120 or more months of total returns. While the 10-year overall star rating formula seems to give the most weight to the 10-year period, the most recent three-year period actually has the greatest impact because it is included in all three rating periods.