Bonds

Surging COVID-19 hospitalization rates driven by the highly contagious Delta variant threaten to set back the not-for-profit healthcare sector’s recovery and pose new uncertainties, new reports warn. Hospitalizations are trending upward in all states with the 14-day increase at double-digit percentages for all but a few. The most daunting strains that could negatively impact hospital
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Municipals were little changed in light trading on the last Friday of August as U.S. Treasuries made gains as did equities following Federal reserve Board Chair Jerome Powell’s Jackson Hole speech. The total potential volume for next week is estimated at $4.938 billion, an expected drop as the unofficial final week of summer comes ahead
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Alternative trading system platforms provide the value of visible liquidity and price discovery in the marketplace, especially for municipal securities that are not widely known and transacted when directly compared to broker’s broker platforms, according to a new MSRB report. The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board report compares trading activity on ATS platforms versus broker’s broker
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Weakness moved out the yield curve Thursday as secondary bid-wanteds were still elevated while U.S. Treasuries pared earlier losses and equities sold off in the afternoon as news out of Afghanistan grew worse. For the 25th straight week, Refinitiv Lipper reported inflows into municipal bond funds. Investors put $1.9 billion of cash into the mutual
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Women in Public Finance marks its 25th anniversary with a return to its Chicago roots for a hybrid in-person and remote conference in September. WPF will recognize the recipients of its annual Founders Awards. Michigan Treasurer Rachael Eubanks will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award; Suzanne Beitel, a senior vice president and chief financial officer at
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Municipals faced some pressure and benchmark yield curves were cut by one to two basis points Wednesday. Municipals largely have shrugged off a weaker U.S. Treasury market and outperformed while mutual funds saw another $2 billion-plus week of inflows. The 10- and 30-year UST have risen nine basis points since Monday, while munis have only
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Kroll Bond Rating Agency raised its outlook on Chicago’s general obligation bonds to stable from negative and affirmed the city’s GO rating at A. “The stable outlook assignment and the outlook revision on the outstanding GO bonds recognizes the tenor of actions taken by the city’s management in confronting COVID-19 induced challenges, an improved revenue
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Municipals were unmoved in light trading to start the last week of August while U.S. Treasuries maintained Friday’s levels and equities advanced on news the FDA gave the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine full approval. Municipal benchmark yield curves continued to hold steady for the seventh day as investors await a diverse primary that includes gilt-edged Montgomery
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Puerto Rico employment numbers were mixed in July. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ household survey showed July employment was down 0.06% from the June total. The bureau also releases an employment survey of non-farm establishments and this showed an increase of 0.4% from June. The survey does not include self-employment. July’s household survey total
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Northeast municipal issuers sold $59.9 billion of debt over the first six months of this year, up 4.8% from the same period of 2020 as states, cities and agencies adjusted to the COVID-19 environment and other variables. That included a 13.3% spike in the first quarter, to $29.5 billion from $26 billion. Many traditional issuers,
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Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam said the state ended fiscal year 2021 with a record level of reserves, a budget surplus of $2.6 billion and a rosy economic outlook. Speaking before the Legislature’s Joint Money Committee meeting Wednesday, the governor said the state is on track to put almost 15% of the general fund budget in
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