Finance

In a speech, Federal Reserve Gov. Adriana Kugler said sound monetary policy comes when electoral politics are kept out of central banking.

Market reaction to inflation numbers was "tempered," said Richard Flax, chief investment officer at Moneyfarm. But should inflationary pressures hold in 2025, "markets may anticipate that further rate cuts could be limited in scope, suggesting a more cautious investment outlook."

KBRA has placed Chicago's general obligation bond rating on watch for downgrade as the City Council prepares to vote tomorrow on a proposed property tax increase.

Municipals ignored USTs losses, leading to lower muni to UST ratios and adding to the better performance across the curve and credit spectrum.

The focus: municipal advisors — part of your regulatory responsibilities and duties (if you don't agree to evaluate pricing and/or structure, you must expressly disclose it to the client) and broker-dealers (fair dealing). 

Tax-exempt money market funds reached a 2024 high of assets under management at $136.84 billion for the week ending Wednesday, according to the Investment Company Institute.

"A sharply lower new-issuance calendar, peak yields, large redemption money and mutual funds inflows are all positive performance factors for the market," BofA strategists said.

Despite the post-election selloff, inflows continued this week as LSEG Lipper reported investors added $1.263 billion to municipal bond mutual funds for the week ending Wednesday, compared to $658.5 million of inflows the prior week. High-yield inflows returned.

The red wave that took the presidency and the Senate — along with increased odds of a Republican victory in the House — was hanging heavily over fixed income markets Wednesday, with munis and UST yields rising up to 17 basis points, with the largest losses out long.

The University of Texas at Austin's Center on Municipal Capital Markets will provide graduate and continuing education programs, research reports, and public outreach.