Finance

The system's turnaround efforts include using proceeds of a proposed $710 million deal to sell hospice and home health assets to pay off direct placement debt.

A change by the IRS increases the Permanent School Fund's capacity by nearly 86%, allowing its triple-A school bond guarantee to be widely available again.

Investors will be greeted Monday with a new-issue calendar estimated at $6.018 billion with a few bellwether, triple-A names coming from Loudoun County, Virginia, Frederick County, Maryland, and Columbia University with sizable deals.

Banks reduced their quarterly muni holdings during the first quarter at the fastest rate in 20 years, per Municipal Market Analytics.

Outflows were seen again from municipal bond mutual funds, though they lessened this week as Refinitiv Lipper reported $101.664 million was pulled as of Wednesday.  

The CPI numbers coming in pretty much as expected "was a relief" to the markets, with the bond market rallying after the release, said Luke Bartholomew, senior economist at abrdn.

Despite the attraction for new issues, sources said there is still uncertainty overall in the municipal market stemming from the regional banking crisis.

Now that there is more "clarity from the Fed on the path of interest rates, both investors and issuers may start to move off the sidelines," said Daniel Close, head of municipals at Nuveen.

Investors will be greeted Monday with a new-issue calendar estimated at $7.588 billion.

Continued commitments to meeting long-term liabilities under Gov. Phil Murphy were cited as key in a slew of recent bond rating upgrades for the Garden State.

The secondary was quiet and the sole deal of size came from a $400 million-plus competitive water and sewer loan from Portland, Oregon. The recent rise in yields makes for more compelling levels.

"The market is expecting a 25 basis point rise in the Fed funds rate, but more importantly, investors are waiting for the comments for a better idea of what to expect going forward," said SWBC Investment Company's Roberto Roffo.

In a supply-challenged market, foreign investors can play a role in buying taxable munis. 16Rock Asset Management's James Pruskowski discusses a 2023 reset in the muni market. Lynne Funk hosts (29 minutes)

Las Vegas sees March visitor totals similar to pre-pandemic March 2019, putting in on solid fiscal footing.

Municipals were in the red to close out April, down 0.2%, per the Bloomberg Municipal Index, but are in the black 2.5% year-to-date.

JPMorgan's move to acquire First Republic and its muni portfolio eases the risk of nearly $20 billion of munis flooding the market.

"Investors' jitters in the lead up to next week's Fed meeting resulted in some large macro market moves and a rise in volatility," noted BofA Securities strategists in a weekly report.

It's one of four state cases accusing Wall Street banks of a "robo-resetting" scheme that kept interest on variable-rate debt artificially high.

Outflows from municipal bond mutual funds receded as Refinitiv Lipper reported $92.055 million was pulled from them as of Wednesday after $2.876 billion of outflows the week prior. 

S&P signaled the next lift needed for Detroit to shed junk status is within reach — in the next one to two years — by assigning a positive outlook to the BB-plus rating.