Peter Hayes: Surveying the Municipal Bond Landscape

<p>Our guest this week is Peter Hayes. Peter is a managing director at BlackRock where he heads the firm's municipal income group and sits on its global fixed-income Executive Committee. In his role, Peter oversees all aspects of municipal fund management, including portfolio management, research, strategy, and trading. Among his responsibilities, Peter is one of the managers of the BlackRock Strategic Opportunities Fund. In addition to these duties, Peter is also a member of BlackRock's Global Operating Committee. Before joining BlackRock in 2006, Peter was a portfolio manager at Merrill Lynch Investment Management, where he led the short-term tax-exempt trading desk and managed short-term municipal bond strategies. Peter earned a bachelor's in economics from the College of the Holy Cross.</p><p></p></p><p><p><strong>Background</strong></p></p><p><p><a href="https://www.blackrock.com/us/individual/biographies/peter-hayes" target="_blank">Peter Hayes Bio</a></p></p><p><p><strong>The Big Picture</strong></p></p><p><p>“<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/10/business/local-finances-troubled-investors-profit.html" target="_blank">Local Finances Are Troubled, but Fund Investors May Still Profit</a>,” by Carla Fried, nytimes.com, July 10, 2020.</p></p><p><p>“<a href="https://www.blackrock.com/us/individual/insights/municipal-monthly" target="_blank">Muni Investors Scale Back</a>,” by Peter Hayes, blackrock.com, Oct. 7, 2020.</p></p><p><p>“<a href="https://www.brookings.edu/blog/up-front/2020/09/24/how-much-is-covid-19-hurting-state-and-local-revenues/" target="_blank">How Much Is COVID-19 Hurting State and Local Revenues</a>?” by Louise Sheiner and Sophia Campbell, brookings.edu, Sept. 24, 2020.</p></p><p><p>“<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/24/health/us-coronavirus-wednesday/index.html" target="_blank">Record Increases of new Covid-19 Cases in 3 U.S. States With the Most Population</a>,” by Jay Croft, Christina Maxouris, and Douglas Wood, cnn.com, June 24, 2020.</p></p><p><p><strong>Stimulus</strong></p></p><