Jessica Lerner is a senior reporter and buy-side specialist for Bond Buyer where she writes the daily market column, the monthly volume story and longer trend stories. Prior to this, she worked as a beat reporter at two Connecticut newspapers. She earned her master's in business and economics reporting from the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism and her bachelor's in journalism and statistics from the University of Connecticut.
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The new-issue calendar is led by the New York Transportation Development Corp. with $1.5 billion of green AMT special facilities revenue bonds for the John F. Kennedy International Airport New Terminal One project,
June 14 -
"Even after this week's rally, absolute yields look attractive in the context of the trading range over the past three years, May's underperformance versus taxable fixed-income, and our longer-term projections for lower rates this year," J.P. Morgan strategists said.
June 13 -
Household ownership of munis — which includes direct ownership of individual bonds in brokerage accounts, fee-based advisory accounts and SMAs — rose to $1.779 trillion, up 0.3% from Q4 2023 and from 5.6% in Q1 2023.
June 13 -
Driven by ongoing capital expenditure funding and current refunding opportunities, airport issuance is estimated at $21 billion in 2024, with a slew of from June through September and more planned in December, according to Ramirez.
June 12 -
"We will remain cautious until CPI and the FOMC are in the rear-view mirror and as long as these don't catalyze a sell-off (since that would trigger outflows) or catalyze a sharp rally (as municipals lag rates during a sharp rally and ratios can increase optically) ... " said Vikram Rai, head of municipal markets strategy at Wells Fargo.
June 11 -
Munis should see better performance this week as issuance falls to $5.2 billion this week and cash still needs to be reinvested, said Jason Wong, vice president of Municipals at AmeriVet Securities.
June 10 -
Municipal bond mutual funds saw inflows as investors added $549.2 million after $94.9 million of outflows the week prior, according to LSEG Lipper.
June 6 -
Issuance remains robust Wednesday with an estimated $5.9 billion, said J.P. Morgan strategists led by Peter DeGroot.
June 5 -
New-issue volume has topped $50 billion over the past few weeks, said AllianceBernstein in a weekly report.
June 4 -
Falling occupancy figures, staffing shortages, and rising labor costs have elevated the sector's risk, with Greenwich Investment Management's bankruptcy yet another example of how the sector requires thorough credit analysis.
June 4 -
This week's surge in issuance, which tops $14 billion, is "likely going to keep a lid on any enthusiasm," Birch Creek strategists said in a weekly report.
June 3 -
May volume "surprised on the high end and it has been one of the fastest starts to the year historically," said James Pruskowski, chief investment officer at 16Rock Asset Management.
May 31 -
Despite losses, munis are "being set up nicely" as the summer season approaches, said Jeff Lipton, a research analyst and market strategist.
May 30 -
Muni yields rose up to 13 basis points Wednesday, depending on the curve, coming on the tailwind of a market correction, said Brad Libby, a fixed-income portfolio manager and credit analyst at Hartford Funds.
May 29 -
SMA growth has been "pretty staggering to see," said Matthew Schrager, managing director and co-head of TD Securities Automated Trading, noting the "interplay between SMA and electronic trading is a very symbiotic relationship."
May 29 -
Munis sold off last week "as the anticipated market correction may have finally started ahead of the summer reinvestment period," said Jason Wong, vice president of municipals at AmeriVet Securities.
May 28 -
Municipal bond mutual funds saw the second week of outflows as investors pulled $217.6 million from the funds after $546.2 million of outflows the week prior, according to LSEG Lipper. High-yield saw inflows again.
May 23 -
The ongoing influx of new-issue supply has pushed muni-UST ratios to at or near year-to-date highs, J.P. Morgan strategists said.
May 22 -
Dan Tomson, Citi's former co-head of Municipal Banking and Public Finance, and David Stephan, a former J.P. Morgan executive director, have joined the firm.
May 22 -
Several weeks of elevated supply should theoretically be "weighing more on performance, but the market is now just ahead of its largest reinvestment season, which so far in 2024 has become even more pronounced, with an additional $19.5 billion scheduled for call/redemption between [June 1 and August 30]," said Matt Fabian, a partner at Municipal Market Analytics.
May 21
