Christine Albano is a reporter in the Investor’s & Investing beat, which she has covered for the past two decades. She has a wide range of buy side sources in the municipal market and has covered trends affecting retail investors, institutions, municipal mutual funds, tax-exempt money market funds, and the high-yield beat. She has also written about some of the industry’s biggest issues, such as historic defaults in Orange County, Calif., Puerto Rico, and Jefferson County, Ala., as well as the collapse of the variable-rate demand market. In addition, she reported on the subsequent 2008 financial crisis, and the death of municipal bond pioneer Jim Lebenthal. She provided next day coverage of the impact on the municipal bond market of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, and recently interviewed The Vanguard Group Inc. founder, former chief executive officer, and investment guru John C. Bogle about the best investing advice for the municipal market.
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Another $2 billion-plus was reported flowing into municipal bond mutual funds in the latest week, continuing to be a supportive demand component for munis.
August 11 -
Municipals are tethered to Treasuries, more so in recent sessions, and have cheapened, but strong technicals — $18.5 billion of net negative supply and large reinvestment needs — still hang overhead.
August 10 -
With all eyes on Friday’s employment report, since several additional strong months of gains are needed for the Federal Reserve to be comfortable announcing a tapering of its asset purchases, Wednesday’s news could signal trouble.
August 4 -
A municipal analyst for 43 years, Baker was head of MAGNY in 1993 and NFMA in 1997.
August 2 -
The economy continues to recover, with durable goods orders and consumer confidence suggesting strength, but concerns about the Delta variant of COVID-19 and continued supply-chain problems cloud the future outlook.
July 27 -
Low ratios, low yields and massive demand are leading to a market that is mostly on its own. Refinitiv Lipper reported $1.7 billion of inflows.
July 22 -
The larger new issues and aggressive swings in taxables had investors on guard as triple-A curves were pressured outside 10-years, but the asset class still vastly outperformed UST while ICI reports nearly $3 billion more inflows.
July 21 -
Weill was involved in the municipal bond insurance industry from its inception in the late 1960s, as well as the original entrepreneurial group that created MBIA and its predecessors.
July 16 -
Gilt-edged munis fell as much as two basis points Wednesday as the month ended and the first half stats were put into the record books.
June 30 -
Making it a summer Friday, munis were quiet. Participants contemplate why the market underperformed taxables to the degree they did when fundamentals are objectively strong and little has changed since before the FOMC.
June 25 -
The Investment Company Institute on Wednesday reported $2.533 billion of inflows into municipal bond mutual funds, the highest since February.
June 16 -
Yields on top-quality munis were flat on the AAA scales Friday; yields were seven to nine basis points lower on the week.
June 11 -
Trading showed firmer prints, with Georgia general obligation bonds, Maryland GOs and Los Angeles Department of Water and Power bonds trading up.
June 10 -
The mutual fund company targets more yield and duration opportunities with its Municipal Intermediate Fund, which will invest primarily in investment-grade bonds across municipal sectors.
June 7 -
As most participants await Friday's jobs report, the municipal market Thursday sustained a firm tone as rates remained on a gradual path of decline.
June 3 -
ICI's report marks the 12th consecutive week of inflows bringing the total for 2021 to more than $40 billion. Lower- and non-rated deals saw 20 to 30 basis point bumps in repricings as any paper with yield is massively oversubscribed.
June 2 -
The fundamentals of the muni market have investors stuck in a low-rate environment without much of an alternative. Refinitiv Lipper reported $1.466 billion of inflows into municipal bond mutual funds with $813.8 million into high-yield.
May 27 -
Municipals saw little activity on Monday as the market prepped for the bulk of the week's $7B primary calendar arriving Tuesday and Wednesday.
May 24 -
PNC's Nicholas Falgione was a veteran banker remembered as an innovator among his peers.
May 21 -
Price indexes in the latest New York manufacturing survey came in higher than expected, furthering inflation concerns.
May 17
