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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Municipals finished weaker on Tuesday amid Treasury weakness and equity strength.
June 16 -
New York, Texas and Pennsylvania issues headline the new-issue slate.
June 12 -
Yields on the long end of the curve dropped as much as seven basis points while very short yields rose.
June 11 -
Asset managers maintain key strategies, but take advantage of post-pandemic opportunities amid overall stabilization.
June 11 -
The market looks forward to Thursday's $3.3 billion note deal from DASNY after handling a sizable calendar Wednesday.
June 10 -
New deals thrive and inflows continue as Lipper reports $1.2 billion into municipal bond mutual funds.
June 4 -
Primary market deals generated strong demand, and municipals were little changed in secondary trading.
June 3 -
The fragility of the economy amid protests and the continuing coronavirus threats have dealers unloading some risk.
June 2 -
Tightening spreads and low yields ended the month as demand for municipal bonds is expected to overwhelm $6 billion in volume heading to the primary.
May 29 -
Municipal to U.S. Treasury ratios have been a focus for many participants of late. Historically attractive ratios, low supply, and continued fund inflows are creating some strength in the municipal market.
May 28 -
Even with the news that New York City is looking to potentially borrow $7B through its Transitional Finance Authority as it faces $9B in lower revenues, the market didn’t blink and TFAs traded firmer.
May 27 -
Taxable equivalent yields on exempts are close to converging into taxables.
May 21 -
Municipal to U.S. Treasury ratios were attractive, especially on the short end, which drove secondary yields lower.
May 20 -
The front of the municipal yield curve is 'astounding' and traders said dealers are uncharacteristically accepting the levels, likely due to the historically attractive ratios.
May 19 -
Uncertainty and volatility have caused a bifurcated market when it comes to credit, and widespread disparity between high-quality and high-yield is complicating matters for issuers.
May 15 -
Yields on all triple-A benchmark curves out to nine years are now below 1%. The largest bumps were again on the very short end of the curve. Lipper reported $580 million of inflows.
May 14 -
Investors are sending the message that higher-grade, longer-term issuers will fare far better than lower-rated, higher-yield ones amid a focus on credit.
May 13 -
The Fed on Monday essentially said it was standing 10 feet back from the market, allowing it to manage the pandemic-driven crisis itself. Lower-rated issuers may benefit most from the facility.
May 11 -
High-grade trading Friday showed the disparate credit picture that investors are facing; they now need to dig deeper into municipal financials and the backstops on certain bonds.
May 8 -
Two credits struggling with coronavirus-driven revenue shortfalls experienced very different outcomes in Tuesday's market. Taxable Penn State bonds showed the appetite for taxable munis is real.
May 5
