A year of significant monetary policy tightening is coming to a close, making Franklin Templeton Fixed Income optimistic about muni bonds in the year ahead. Get the team’s 2024 muni-bond outlook.

Declining commercial real estate valuations will not likely lead to a wave of defaults among muni issuers, according to Franklin Templeton Fixed Income’s municipal bond team.

The municipal bond market has not been immune to bouts of volatility hitting the markets this year, but there are still pockets of opportunity, according to Franklin Templeton Fixed Income’s Director of Municipal Bonds, Ben Barber.

The first half of the year has so far been challenging for investors in municipal bonds.

Apart from some high-profile downgrades, the muni credit markets finished 2020 buoyed by breakthrough vaccines and signs that state and local tax collections were better than anticipated.