Finance

A year after raising its ratings to investment grade, Moody's Ratings upgraded Detroit's issuer and general obligation bond ratings again, to Baa1.

MFS Investment Management predicts "compelling opportunities for muni investors" in the second half of the year.

"We are entering a period during the summer months in which demand historically outweighs very limited supply, resulting in a supportive performance environment but more limited investment opportunities," said J. Robert Lind of Lind Capital Partners.

This week has the July 4th holiday, with only $2.5 billion on tap in the primary bond market, though investors have tens of billions in reinvestment cash.

GFOA Today 2025, day 1

Issuance for the week of June 30 is estimated at $2.495 billion, with $2.039 billion of negotiated deals and $456.3 million of competitive deals on tap, according to LSEG.

Investors added $79.6 million to municipal bond mutual funds in the week ended Wednesday, following $110 million of inflows the prior week, according to LSEG Lipper data.

Soon after it sold $687.3 million of bonds, Chicago returned to market with $82.55 million for housing and economic development in a deal set to close Monday.

The ratings agency said fund balances had declined as a percent of operating revenues and are expected to decline further.

As the end of the first half of a so-far tumultuous 2025 approaches, several municipal bond analysts are upbeat about the rest of the year.