Municipal bonds strengthened on the long end Friday after the latest employment report showed continued job growth and buoyed equities and Treasuries. The Labor Department said nonfarm payrolls rose 559,000 in May as the jobless rate fell to 5.8% from 6.1%. The numbers showed slow but steady strength in the labor market, but came in
Bonds
Ongoing large inflows into the municipal market sustained a firm tone Thursday as interest rates remain on a gradual decline in spite of the volatility in the Treasury market, but most participants await Friday’s jobs report. Refinitiv Lipper reported $997.358 million of inflows into municipal bond mutual funds, of that $372 million was high-yield. Triple-A
Illinois lawmakers signed off on the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority’s subsidy request, providing a backstop for the agency to weather the pandemic’s lingering wounds. The agency also is finalizing its next debt restructuring to provide another tool to manage loss of tax and operational revenues after the pandemic shut down the convention business last
The Puerto Rico Senate filed suit Tuesday afternoon against the privatization of the transmission and distribution systems of the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority, though analysts suggest the suit does not have a strong chance of success. Later Tuesday, a judge in the Court of the First Instance, based in San Juan, issued an order
The Federal Reserve Board plans to begin gradually selling a portfolio of corporate debt purchased through an emergency lending facility launched last year, as the COVID-19 pandemic was spreading panic through financial markets. “Portfolio sales will be gradual and orderly, and will aim to minimize the potential for any adverse impact on market functioning by
Illinois lawmakers passed a fiscal 2022 budget that pays down COVID-19-related short-term borrowing, raises $600 million of revenue by eliminating corporate incentives, and uses $2.5 billion of the $8.1 billion ticketed for the state in the American Rescue Plan Act. The budget package laid out in amendments to Senate Bill 2800 includes a $42.3 billion
Municipals were little changed Tuesday, largely ignoring a weaker U.S. Treasury market, as participants await light supply with a lot of cash on hand. Municipal to UST ratios started the week hovering at recent levels, closing at 61% in 10 years and 66% in 30 years, according to Refinitiv MMD. ICE Data Services saw ratios
The multibillion-dollar New York-New Jersey Gateway train tunnel project can move forward following a milestone ruling from two federal agencies announced Friday. The Federal Railroad Administration and Federal Transit Administration released the Final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and Record of Decision (ROD) on the Hudson Tunnel Project, which allows pre-construction activities such as real estate
Grace Dunlap, Chair of the Board at Bryant Miller Olive P.A., is the first public finance attorney to win the Ralph A. Marsicano Award. The 2020 award was presented by the City, County and Local Government Law section of the Florida Bar on May 12. The award is given by the CCLGL section to an
Vermont’s $153.3 million sale of general obligation bonds in three series generated a nearly $30 million premium on top of that, state treasurer Beth Pearce said. Proceeds will fund new capital projects and refinance debt. The refunding portion generated more than $7.6 million of savings on a net present value basis, according to Pearce. “Investors
The Chicago Transit Authority heads into the market next week to refund $127 million of federal grant anticipation-backed bonds with positive rating news in tow. S&P Global Ratings lifted its outlook to positive from stable on a portion of the CTA’s grant-backed bonds being refunded, citing improving coverage ratios. S&P also moved the outlook to
There’s so much spare cash sloshing around U.S. funding markets that investors are choosing to park almost half a trillion dollars at the central bank — earning absolutely nothing. Usage of the Federal Reserve’s reverse repo facility — a mechanism that’s part of the central bank’s arsenal for helping to steer short-term interest rates —
Municipals were a touch firmer Friday with a few stronger high-grade prints clearing at levels to move triple-A benchmarks a basis point better while U.S. Treasuries were also a basis point or two lower ahead of what will be a low-issuance week to start the summer. All triple-A benchmark 10-year yields are now below 1%,
San Diego’s regional transportation planning agency introduced a $160 billion draft regional plan that hinges on high-density housing development along transit lines. The 30-year plan drafted by the 21-member board of the San Diego Association of Governments has the support of environmental and labor groups though it faces opposition from some Republicans and anti-tax groups.
The Biden administration is proposing the authorization of $50 billion in direct-pay qualified School Infrastructure Bonds and doubling the limit on tax-exempt private activity bonds for transportation infrastructure to $30 billion. The Treasury’s so-called Green Book of proposed changes to tax law released Friday also calls for an enhancement of the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit
The Federal Reserve’s prestigious annual Jackson Hole policy symposium will be held in person this year, albeit in a modified form, according to a statement Thursday from hosts the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. The yearly retreat of the world’s top central bankers and economists went virtual in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic,
New-money, refunding and taxable municipal bond issuance all declined in May year-over-year, though a longer lookback shows an average figure for the month historically and the total volume for the year is ahead of the 2020 pace. Municipal issuance decreased 23.3% from May 2020 to $23.77 billion across 820 transactions from the $30.99 billion in
Municipals saw one to three basis point bumps to benchmark yield curves while new issues repriced by as much as 10 basis points lower into a stronger, issuer-friendly market, as the 10-year fell below 1% on most scales. The Investment Company Institute reported $1.27 billion of inflows into municipal bond mutual funds, marking the 11th
Despite recent large monthly gains, Fitch Ratings said it will take the U.S. job market another 18 months to create the 7 million jobs needed to recover from the economic shocks wrought by the pandemic. Fitch doesn’t expect the U.S. labor market to return to full employment, which it estimates at 4.3%, until the fourth
U.S. central bank officials may be able to begin discussing the appropriate timing of scaling back their bond-buying program at upcoming policy meetings, Federal Reserve Vice Chair Richard Clarida said. “It may well be” that “in upcoming meetings, we’ll be at the point where we can begin discuss scaling back the pace of asset purchases,”