Market Commentaries
COVID-19 and its Impact on Municipal Credit (Part I)
March 2020We would be remiss to not wish each of our readers and clients safety and peace of mind during these most trying times. Following Governor Pritzker’s “stay-at-home” order, we want to let you know our firm will remain open via remote access operations a …
Support and Guidance for our Clients, Bernardi Team Members and Colleagues
March 2020Good afternoon everyone. We are all experiencing unprecedented events and uncertainty resulting from the COVID-19 health threat. I am writing to provide a brief summary of actions we undertook last week to ensure our firm remains fully operational to s …
Finding Relative Value in the Municipal Market
March 2020Contagion risk is gripping society and financial markets alike. Year-to-date the S&P 500 is down nearly 15% while oil dropped 25% yesterday alone. Treasury bond yields have dropped precipitously and at one point every rung of the Treasury yield cur …
Unapparent Risk in Municipal Bond Land
December 20192019 municipal bond market performance has been stellar as its safe-haven status persisted in a year packed with monetary policy easing from global central banks. The Bloomberg Barclays long-term tax-exempt index is up 7.54% YTD.[1] While 4Q informatio …
RE: Wall Street Journal’s “Your Stock Trades Go Free but Your Cash Is in Chains”
October 2019Jason Zweig’s October 4th article underscores that transactions costs should not be the only metric investors use to evaluate investment platforms. Additionally – and as importantly – they need to consider opportunity costs, the portfolio management pr …
Bond Portfolio Strategy in a Booming Market
September 2019“Negative nominal interest rates are contradictory in an expectations-driven liquidity trap, unless they are able to eliminate deflationary expectations altogether…This paper has shown that negative interest rates are likely to make things worse in an …
Stranger Things & Global Central Banks
August 2019The hit Netflix sci-fi series Stranger Things takes place in the fictional 1980’s town of Hawkins, Indiana. The show follows a group of middle school kids fending off other-dimensional monsters and Russian conspiracy plots. The threats are significant, …
Market Review – Summer 2019
June 2019Please find below our portfolio management team’s Summer 2019 Municipal Market Review. This provides an overview of current market conditions and information about our total return and goals-based strategies. If you would like additional information a …
Perspective for Advisors: Best Execution
April 2019Registered investment advisors (RIA) who purchase fixed income securities for clients, should have best execution in the forefront of their minds. In July 2018, the SEC Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations (OCIE) issued a risk alert detail …
REGULATION BEST INTEREST
April 2019A FOUNDATIONAL PILLAR: INVESTOR FAITH AND TRUST The municipal bond market provides our economy with a deep pool of investment capital. Simply stated, Municipal Bonds Build America. Investor participation is high as both individual and institutional in …
Beware of the Average Benchmark
January 2019January 18, 2019 By: Matthew P. Bernardi There are many facets and varieties of our active management approach to municipal bond portfolios. Credit analysis, ladder positioning, strategies offered, and tax-loss harvesting to name a few. Another importa …
Happy New Year and Thank You
January 2019We wish everyone a happy New Year. October 1st marked the first day of our 35th year at Bernardi Securities. In the fall of 1984 my father, Ed Bernardi, and several others opened the doors of Bernardi Securities for the first time. Our office was loca …
Market Review – Fall 2018
November 2018Below please find the our portfolio management team’s Fall 2018 Municipal Market Review. This provides an overview of current market conditions and information about our total return and goals-based strategies. If you would like additional information …
The Yield Curve: Where we have been and possibly going
October 2018October 10, 2018 By Matthew P. Bernardi The U.S. economy is firing on all cylinders right now. Small business confidence has reached all-time highs, jobless claims are near 49 year lows, while household net worth continues to climb into record territor …
The Accumulation of Debt
July 2018July 5, 2018 By Matthew P. Bernardi “[Avoid] likewise the accumulation of debt”. – George Washington Since the financial crisis, municipal bonded debt outstanding has increased at a snail’s pace of 0.51% per year.[1] With corporate debt growing at an …