Gary Siegel

Municipals were unchanged for the fourth consecutive day this week amid slight Treasury strength as demand for yield continued.

Demand was brisk in the primary market while the short-term market traded sideways on the pressure from the heavy new issue calendar, the release of the FOMC minutes and Treasury auction.

The Puerto Rico Aqueduct and Sewer Authority sold $813 million of senior lien revenue bonds consisting of tax-exempt refunding, taxable refunding and forward delivery refunding bonds.

As New York City launched the first of its two-day retail order period on $1.039 billion of GO bonds, the market was uneventful ahead of $9.76 billion in the primary market this week

Joe Kalish, chief global macro strategist at Ned Davis Research, discusses his thoughts on when the Federal Reserve will announce it will cut back on its asset purchases, the possibility of Chair Jerome Powell’s re-nomination and what to expect from the Jackson Hole summit. Gary Siegel hosts (27 minutes)

Negotiated deals were repriced to lower yields while competitive deals saw levels coming in through triple-A benchmarks. High-grade benchmarks were little changed.

Ed Moya, senior market analyst for the Americas at OANDA, talks with Bond Buyer Managing Editor Gary Siegel about the upcoming FOMC meeting, inflation, the possibility of tapering and the future make-up of the Fed in a wide-ranging discussion on the economy and monetary policy. (31 minutes)

While municipals hit the pause button Friday, the movement in yields in the first week of July marked the largest one-week decline in 2021.

With better-than-expected payrolls, economists still caution full recovery is a ways away. Muni participants are closely following how the Fed's action — or inaction — will affect the municipal market going forward.

The broader market awaits Friday’s nonfarm payrolls report, but Thursday brought some helpful labor news — unemployment claims dropped to the lowest since before the pandemic-caused economic shutdowns and layoffs plunged in June.

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.

A majority of the week's largest new issues priced at yields mostly at or around benchmarks as secondary trading did little to move scales. In economic data released Tuesday, the June consumer confidence index climbed, suggesting spending will rebound.

With various Federal Reserve officials airing their views since the Federal Open Market Committee’s latest meeting, it may take a while for members to reach agreement on tapering, a boon for municipals.

Triple-A benchmark yields moved higher by as much as five basis points while ICI reported another $1.8 billion of inflows and ETFs increase their share by $841 million.

After facing outside economic data pressures and rising U.S. Treasuries, municipals ended the week on solid footing ahead of a larger calendar with newly upgraded Connecticut leading with $1 billion of exempt and taxable GOs.

The municipal market largely ignored the FOMC news that it would hold rates steady. New Jersey was 20 times oversubscribed and ICI reported $2.5 billion of inflows into long-term municipal bond mutual funds.

Sub-1% 10-year municipals and low ratios may test investor appetite for the asset class but it is hard to ignore the strong fundamentals and substantial fund flows in the backdrop.

Jack Janasiewicz, senior vice president, portfolio manager and portfolio strategist at Natixis Investment Managers Solutions, discusses inflation and why there is disagreement on whether it will become an issue this year. He talks about how stimulus money and the employment situation factor in. Gary Siegel hosts. (Taped March 9 / 30 minutes).

The services sector showed improvement and employment made big gains in March, but economists note the labor market remains far from full employment.

Veneta Dimitrova, senior U.S. economist at Ned Davis Research, says the COVID pandemic showed us the government has more fiscal space than thought. She also discusses inflation, housing, the manufacturing sector, global supply chain challenges and the Fed’s balance sheet. Hosted by Gary Siegel. Taped Feb. 24. (32 minutes)