The Ides of March came calling for municipal bonds. State- and city-issued debt joined gold and consumer staples stocks as asset classes that betrayed their safe-haven reputations in March.
A broad measure of municipal bonds slipped more than 2% last month. This is an usually large move for these bonds in such a short timeframe. Undoubtedly, municipal bond investors don’t sign up for 2%+ losses in the span of a month, but there’s a silver lining in that last weakness may signal opportunity with ETFs such as the ALPS Intermediate Municipal Bond ETF (MNBD).
A month isn’t a long period of time with municipal bonds. Still, MNBD deserves some credit. It performed less poorly than the largest ETF in this category over the past month. Year-to-date, the ALPS ETF is sporting a modest gain while its passive rival is in the red.
etftrends.com
by Todd Shriber
April 13, 2026