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Meet the Speakers
Jason Mertz
Jason Mertz is a Vice President and Investment Strategist for AB’s Municipals team, covering all mutual funds, exchange-traded funds and separately managed account solutions. He works extensively with the firm’s portfolio management, credit research and trading team to monitor and communicate portfolio positioning and analysis to clients around the US. Prior to joining AB in 2016, Mertz worked at BlackRock as a separately managed account analyst. He holds a BA in finance and international business from Muhlenberg College.
Daryl Clements
Daryl Clements is a Senior Vice President and a Municipal Bond Portfolio Manager on AB’s Municipal Fixed Income team, where he is responsible for overseeing the firm’s various separately managed accounts (SMA) and mutual fund assets. He joined AB in 2002 as a municipal credit research analyst, responsible for evaluating municipal issuers nationwide, with a particular focus on the transportation, public power and tobacco-backed bonds sectors. In 2006, Clements was promoted to the portfolio-management team and became a member of the Tax-Exempt Fixed Income Investment Policy Group. Since that time, municipal assets under management have increased from US$22 billion to nearly US$80 billion. Within that growth, Clements spent considerable time expanding and broadening the team’s SMA business. Prior to joining the firm, he was an associate director and municipal credit analyst for Financial Guaranty Insurance Company for six years and a municipal research associate for five years before that with Moody’s Investors Service. Clements holds a BS in business, management and finance from Brooklyn College and an MBA in finance from Pace University. In 2008, he co-authored the “How to Analyze Airport Revenue Bonds” chapter inThe Handbook of Municipal Bonds.
Matthew Wackerman, CFA
Matthew Wackerman is a Vice President and High Yield Research Analyst on AB’s Municipal Credit Research team. He joined the firm in 2015. Prior to his current role, Wackerman worked as an associate portfolio manager on the Municipal Credit team and a rotational associate on the Technology and Operations team. He holds a BA in finance from Michigan State University and is a CFA charterholder.
The municipal bond market entered 2026 on solid footing—but beneath the surface, volatility and market technicals have created meaningful opportunities for selective investors.
Dislocations across the yield curve and credit spectrum are reshaping where potential exists in munis, making active management critical. At the same time, sector performance has sharply diverged, state and local budgets remain uneven, and record trading activity has made navigating the market increasingly complex.
Watch the replay to hear from AB’s muni team as they broke down where potential is emerging, where caution is warranted and how investors can position portfolios to help maximize after-tax income in 2026 and beyond.
Other Key Topics of Discussion:
- How to Bend the Curve like Beckham: With one of the steepest municipal yield curves in years, we’ll explore how active maturity positioning can unlock relative value, attractive yields and bond roll mathematics.
- The State of the States: We’ll examine how state and local governments are navigating ongoing budgetary challenges and what this means for municipal credit.
- Mind the Gaps: Given dramatic sector dispersion in muni credit during 2025, we’ll highlight where to lean in—and where to be cautious.
- Get Off the Sidelines: Municipals dominated cash on an after-tax basis in 2025, and we’ll touch on why that relative advantage remains compelling heading into 2026.
- Trade Smarter, Not Harder: With over 17.5 million municipal bond trades* last year, making the right active-management decision is only half the battle. We’ll discuss how AB leverages technology for efficient capital deployment, active management and proactive tax optimization.
*Source: Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board
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