Finance

An academic paper presented at the Brookings Institute's annual conference found that future wildfire risks are already having economically significant impacts on financial markets, municipal borrowing costs and vulnerable communities.

There is a buyer base that is a little bit "skeptical" of longer maturities, but it's more of a retail response, said Adam Congdon, a director at Payden & Rygel.

While the cost of small trades is higher than institutional trades across all fixed-income markets, the gap is more pronounced in the municipal bond market.

The primary market saw "decent subscriptions" last week, but the entire primary calendar came at "healthy concessions to where evals had been marked on existing bonds," Birch Creek strategists said.

The county comes to market on the strength of its recovery, according to the county's financial advisor.

First Southern LLC failed to timely and accurately report on trades executed for an affiliated hedge fund, FINRA said.

The week was a long-awaited reckoning with record supply, said Kim Olsan, senior fixed income portfolio manager at NewSquare Capital.

The top suite of firms oversaw deals amounting to more than $139 billion par value across 58% of the market.

Schools and governments turn to bonds to cover payouts in the wake of a California law that temporarily lifted the statute of limitations on sex abuse claims.

Munis are "under pressure as elevated primary supply collides with lackluster seasonal reinvestment flows, leaving dealers heavy and buyers selective," said James Pruskowski, an investor and market strategist.

As the market continues to contend with the surge in issuance, investors still have a significant amount of cash that can be put to work, said Jeremy Holtz, a portfolio manager at Income Research + Management.

The top 10 underwriters for the first half of the year brought in more than $203 billion across nearly 2,000 issues.

As always, economists had disparate interpretations of the consumer price index, with none expecting a July rate cut. And tariff questions remain unanswered.

Prices for some bonds issued for Florida's express train have fallen sharply since Friday.

"The muni market seemed to ignore Treasuries [last] week, marching to its own beat," said Birch Creek strategists.

The top issuers for the first half of 2025 put out a combined 89 issuances amounting to more than $39 billion in par value.

New York issuers lead a $9 billion slate.

The negative outlook affects about $1.1 billion in combined GO and lease revenue debt, according to Fitch.

The market has seen some "weirdness" in the muni curve, said Craig Brandon, co-head of muni investments at Morgan Stanley Investment Management.

"Municipal outperformance against taxable sectors has moved short-term ratios on or through their 252-day moving averages, while intermediate and long maturities are holding at or above average ranges," said Kim Olsan, senior fixed income portfolio manager at NewSquare Capital.