Lynne Funk is Senior Director, Strategy and Content, Live Media - Municipal Finance. She leads and shapes The Bond Buyer's six major events, serving as host, moderator, thought leader and brand ambassador. Lynne also is charged with creating innovative live media formats, including new conferences, virtual summits and podcasts to help serve our municipal finance community. Lynne has nearly two decades of experience in the public finance industry. She was most recently Executive Editor of The Bond Buyer. Previously, she was a director at Municipal Market Analytics, Inc., and in the Policy and Public Advocacy for the Municipal Securities Division at the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association.
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In a week marked by inflation and jobs data that made clearer the Federal Reserve will not be cutting rates nearly as much or as many times as some had expected even a week ago, Friday's headlines further complicated the landscape for investors and munis have had little choice but to go along for the ride.
April 12 -
As another economic indicator pushed investors closer toward the assumption that rate cuts are farther away, the relationship between munis, USTs and the vast amount of capital sitting on the sidelines becomes more challenging to navigate, particularly ahead of the tax-filing deadline and growing new-issue calendar.
April 5 -
LSEG Lipper reported fund inflows of $63.8 million for the week ending Wednesday following $300.5 million of inflows the prior week. High-yield saw its 11th consecutive week of inflows at $180.4 million, down from $278.6 million the week prior.
March 21 -
Despite several larger deals entering the primary, the vast amount of cash on hand has not allowed munis to cheapen amid UST volatility and ultra-rich ratios
March 19 -
"While rate volatility returned this week, should the market return to range-bound levels for a protracted period of time, investors might want to add exposure to sectors that provide the most value and have underperformed thus far," Barclays said.
March 15 -
The market is being led more by supply and demand than ratios or even rates. As ratios sit at extremely tight levels, there are buyers engaging at these levels, but large amounts of cash continue to sit on the sidelines.
March 7 -
Investor demands and lower account minimums have grown separately managed accounts across fixed-income markets, particularly in munis. Russell Feldman, CEO and co-founder of IMTC, discusses this evolution and how technology has contributed to changing market dynamics.
March 5 -
Municipals look poised to close out February a touch in the black following a more constructive tone Thursday after being in a 'holding pattern' for much of the past two weeks.
February 29 -
The week ahead boasts some big-name issuers and rare credits, which should provide interesting price discovery. The new-issue calendar totals $6.08 billion, with a larger competitive calendar coming in at $2.4 billion.
February 23 -
"With supply still low, and fund outflows just marginal, it is not clear what would substantially cheapen the market, and we could get stuck in the current range for some time time," Barclays strategists said.
February 16
