Finance

Refinitiv Lipper reported $798.474 million was pulled from municipal bond mutual funds in the week ending Wednesday after $407.976 million of inflows into the funds the previous week.

Utilities have faced lawsuits following wildfires for their perceived role in the destruction.

With around 30% of bonds trading near the de minimis threshold, a new study takes a deep dive into how the rule drives illiquidity as mutual funds dump paper that's approaching the threshold.

California and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey held one-day retail order periods for $1 billion-plus issues.

The North Alabama operator priced $190 million of revenue bonds Aug. 29 to support among other things the purchase of an orthopedic physicians' practice.

Investors remain hesitant about "jumping back into munis even as rates are nearing multi-year highs as tax-exempts are still not cheap enough with the front-end ratios still yielding under 70% while the historical averages are around 90%," AmeriVet Securities' Jason Wong noted.

"As an investor I'm not looking at the activity of the stadium as the security," said an Illinois sports authority bondholder of potential exits by the White Sox and Chicago Bears.

The calendar will rebound with an estimated $7.141 billion next week with $6.323 billion of negotiated deals on tap and $817.6 million on the competitive calendar.

Refinitiv Lipper reported $407.976 million of inflows from municipal bond mutual funds for the week ending Wednesday after $534.428 million of outflows into the funds the previous week.

Former Mayor Harry Sidhu pleaded guilty to federal corruption charges this month, as the city continues to recover from the year-plus closure of Disneyland.

"We've seen more buyer attention at this time of the year versus what we generally would experience as we approach the beginning of September," said Morgan Stanley's Matthew Gastall.

Over the last month or so there's been some volatility in the muni market driven by the Treasury side, said Daryl Clements, municipal portfolio manager at AllianceBernstein.

Fitch analysts mentioned the tardy ACFR in the ESG section of its most recent rating report on California general obligation bonds.

Andy DeVries of CreditSights is fairly optimistic about the eventual outcome for bondholders, though its tax-exempt paper has been trading at a discount.

The muni market "finally succumbed to the month-long rate selloff that had seen valuations test historically rich levels," said Birch Creek Capital strategists in a weekly report.

The new-issue calendar for the final week of August is estimated at a meager $2.979 billion. Bond Buyer 30-day visible supply sits at $5.76 billion.

Refinitiv Lipper reported $534.428 million of outflows from municipal bond mutual funds for the week ending Wednesday after $264.046 million of outflows into the funds the previous week.

The Puerto Rico General Fund has paid out $1.5 billion on the bankruptcies after initial expectations were $370 million over nearly a decade.

In other asset classes, there has been more transparency, activity and efficiency due to electronic trading. The muni market has been behind in realizing how beneficial electronic trading can be, sources said.

Supply scarcity is helping the market through the Treasury volatility. Bond Buyer 30-day visible supply currently sits at $4.72 billion.