Clinton Investment Management – Market Brief and Insights
What’s Happening?
- Municipal bond investors in the highest tax brackets have an opportunity today to lock in taxable equivalent yields approaching 9%*, compared to taxable corporate bonds. However, this opportunity may be fleeting. Once the Strait of Hormuz is reopened, energy prices are expected to drop, likely easing current inflationary pressures and causing interest rates to fall in the future.
- The municipal yield curve is roughly 100 basis points steeper than the current Treasury curve, indicating municipal investors are very well compensated to extend duration.
Where Should Municipal Investors Be Optimally Positioned?
- Short duration, passive strategies are likely to continue to underperform, as they have year-to-date and over the past three years, in our view.
- Given low absolute yields offered by short-to-intermediate municipal strategies, we believe investors should be underweight 2 to 8 year maturities.
Is Now a Good Time to Add to Municipal Bond Allocations?
- Year-to-date municipal new issue supply has been elevated, allowing CIM to expeditiously invest capital and construct new client portfolios effectively.
- The timing is ideal to add to municipal bond allocations, in our view, given stable underlying credit fundamentals, high taxable equivalent yields, and ample supply.
- We expect new issue municipal bond supply to moderate heading into the summer months, however, creating an attractive entry point today. Materially increased reinvestment dollars and continued strong fund flows are expected to result in fewer compelling relative value opportunities.
- Elevated interest rates present investors an opportunity to harvest losses across their municipal bond holdings, positioning portfolios to maximize tax-free cash flow and long-term total return. The tax alpha we may generate for clients complements the total return we have delivered over time.
Why CIM?
- CIM’s differentiated municipal bond strategies continue to deliver total returns that are among the highest in the municipal SMA industry for the 12-month period ending April 30, 2026, according to PSN Informa.
This material has been provided for informational purposes only and is not intended by Clinton Investment Management to provide and should not be relied on for tax, legal or accounting advice. If such advice is required, please consult with your own tax, legal and accounting advisors.
Please remember that past performance may not be indicative of future results. Net-of-fee performance returns are calculated by deducting the actual Clinton Investment Management, LLC investment management fee from the gross returns. Performance returns include the reinvestment of income and capital gains. Actual results may differ from the composite results depending upon the size of the account, investment objectives, guidelines and restrictions, inception of the account and other factors. Different types of investments involve varying degrees of risk, and there can be no assurance that the future performance of any specific investment, investment strategy, or product, made reference to directly or indirectly in this newsletter (article), will be profitable, equal any corresponding indicated historical performance level(s), or be suitable for your portfolio. Due to various factors, including changing market conditions, the content may no longer be reflective of current opinions or positions. Moreover, you should not assume that any discussion or information contained in this newsletter (article) serves as the receipt of, or as a substitute for, personalized investment advice from Clinton Investment Management, LLC. To the extent that a reader has any questions regarding the applicability of any specific issue discussed above to his/her individual situation, he/she is encouraged to consult with the professional advisor of his/her choosing. Please consult with an investment professional before making any investment using content or implied content from any investment manager. A copy of our current written disclosure statement discussing our advisory services and fees is available upon request.
The views and opinions expressed are not necessarily those of the distributing firm or any affiliates. Nothing discussed or suggested should be construed as permission to supersede or circumvent your firm’s policies, procedures, rules, and guidelines.
*The taxable equivalent yield (TEY) is calculated by dividing the tax-exempt yield by 1- the maximum federal income tax rate of 40.8% (37% federal + 3.80% NII tax) + the maximum NY income tax rate of 6.85% applicable to a joint filer in the taxable income bracket between $323,201 and $2,155,350 + the NYC Local income tax rate of 3.88%. Taxable income above this bracket will result in a higher TEY.