00:00U.S. state and local government bonds are near their cheapest levels relative to treasuries with
00:04a 30-year ratio reaching its highest in about a year. Ashna Shah joins us now with more. So what
00:09does that say about munis and their value that they offer? So we're currently seeing munis like
00:15you said reached near their cheapest levels relative to treasuries and about a year. Last
00:19week we saw that the muni treasury ratio hit 75 percent which is the highest we've seen since last
00:24September and the muni treasury ratio is a really good gauge of whether munis are a good buying
00:29opportunity or not. So all of this is happening on the same backdrop of a pretty big sell-off across
00:33fixed income markets. So investors are still pretty wary whether they're looking at inflation you know
00:39rising you know treasury rates and specifically in munis we're seeing a really high and heavy
00:44issuance calendar. So we're seeing heavy issuance with a little bit of a softening demand. So all
00:50this is happening on that backdrop. Okay so that's kind of the the broad brushstrokes. What are
00:54investors saying about this? Do they also see opportunity then as a result? Bankers and investors
00:59are really keeping a close eye on the market right now to see what kind of buyers enter the
01:03market. You know traditionally munis are bought by high net worth individuals who are looking to take
01:07advantage of the tax exemption but some market watchers are saying we might start seeing some
01:12non-traditional buyers enter the market. So they're also saying that that could help you know alleviate
01:16some of the pressure we're seeing on the supply side of things. Maybe they can absorb and soak up some
01:20of
01:21the supply.
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