Municipal Bonds: Smart Muni Moves for 2025 – AllianceBernstein – 8.14.25

Summary:

Municipal market volatility has been a persistent theme over the past few years—and 2025 is no different. Strong headwinds in the first six months, including tariff and budget policies, as well as debate over the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), have weighed heavily on investor sentiment. Muni investors are also grappling with record new-issue supply and lopsided investor demand, causing the yield curve to steepen. While volatility can create hesitation, it also breeds market dislocations. Actively positioning client portfolios today is crucial to capitalize on the opportunity present in the marketplace.

Register now to join a panel of experts from AB, who will uncover the following insights you need to navigate the second half of the year with confidence, including:

• Underperformance Creates Dislocations…and Opportunity: Why the municipal market has underperformed in 2025 and key factors driving yield-curve dislocations
• Optimize Your Maturity Structure: Methods to optimize maturity structure in response to the steepening muni yield curve
• Get off the Sidelines: Strategies to transition clients from cash to meet their diverse investment objectives
• Consider Muni Credit: Implications of the OBBBA on municipal credit quality and sectors to lean into for additional yield and total return potential
• Leverage Technology: Active portfolio management and trading that leverages technology can enhance tax efficiency and navigate market volatility more effectively

Accepted for 1 CFP/ IWI / CFA CE Credit

Speakers:

Matthew Norton is Chief Investment Officer for Municipal Bonds, responsible for overseeing municipal bond investing at AB. He is also a member of the Municipal Impact Investment Policy Group. Previously, Norton was a portfolio manager on the Municipal Bond team. He joined AB in 2005, focusing primarily on research in tax-exempt and taxable fixed-income markets. Prior to joining the firm, Norton worked as a statistical research analyst at St. Lawrence University, evaluating the accuracy of biometric devices. He holds a BS in economics and mathematics from St. Lawrence University and an MBA in economics and quantitative finance from the Leonard N. Stern School of Business at New York University.

Daryl Clements is a Senior Vice President and a Municipal Bond Portfolio Manager on AB’s Municipal Fixed Income team, where he is responsible for overseeing the firm’s various separately managed accounts (SMA) and mutual fund assets. He joined AB in 2002 as a municipal credit research analyst, responsible for evaluating municipal issuers nationwide, with a particular focus on the transportation, public power and tobacco-backed bonds sectors. In 2006, Clements was promoted to the portfolio-management team and became a member of the Tax-Exempt Fixed Income Investment Policy Group. Since that time, municipal assets under management have increased from US $22 billion to nearly US$60 billion. Within that growth, Clements spent considerable time expanding and broadening the team’s SMA business. Prior to joining the firm, he was an associate director and municipal credit analyst for Financial Guaranty Insurance Company for six years and a municipal research associate for five years before that with Moody’s Investors Service. Clements holds a BS in business, management and finance from Brooklyn College and an MBA in finance from Pace University. In 2008, he co-authored the “How to Analyze Airport Revenue Bonds” chapter in The Handbook of Municipal Bonds.

Jason Mertz is the Product Manager for AB’s Municipal Bond Platform, covering all 40 Act mutual funds and separately managed account solutions. He works extensively with the firm’s portfolio management, credit research and trading team to monitor and communicate portfolio positioning and analysis to clients around the US. Prior to joining AB in 2016, Mertz worked at Blackrock as a separately managed account analyst. He holds a BA in finance and international business from Muhlenberg College.