Finance

Most federal lease debt has large bullet maturities that require refinancing, asset sales or a new lease to avoid default.

An investor-driven selloff followed the Los Angeles wildfires. ICE Data Services experts join to discuss the reaction, credit impact and growing role of climate risk data.

"This week's rate volatility made muni trading challenging as Treasury rates have been moving up and down abruptly on the back of inflation releases and tariff news," said Barclays strategist Mikhail Foux.

Sweetwater Union High's rocket-fast transformation from an accounting practices bad apple to ratings upgrades and positive outlooks is expected to boost its bond program.

Investors added $238.5 million to municipal bond mutual funds in the week ending Wednesday, following $1.124 billion of inflows the prior week, according to LSEG Lipper data.

Portfolio managers seem more sanguine about threats to the tax exemption from Congress.

Inflation is front and center this week, with the consumer price index report released on Wednesday and the producer price index on Thursday.

Municipals were cut up to four basis points, depending on the scale, while UST yields rose up to four basis points out long.

BlackRock's move comes as money continues to flow out of muni mutual funds into ETFs and SMAs.

Munis continue to outpace USTs as ratios on the front end continue to richen relative to USTs, Jason Wong said.

A Moody's Ratings upgrade means Hawaii DOT's airport division is headed to market with across-the-board double-A ratings.

Muni yields were bumped one to eight basis points, depending on the scale, while UST yields fell three to 10 basis points, with the greatest gains out long.

Tax exemption concerns — though an elimination is unlikely — and the loss of federal stimulus will "most assuredly pull forward delayed issuance, with the first half of 2025 volume to exceed second half volume," said James Welch, a municipal portfolio manager at Principal Asset Management.

To close out the day, USTs remained mixed, with yields rising on the short end and falling out long, while munis were changed up to a basis point, depending on the curve.

The San Joaquin Hills Transportation Corridor Agency tapped reserves to make early bond payments saving $203 million. It's parent agency, the Transportation Corridor Agencies, hopes to save $1.79 billion with additional early pay downs by 2030.

Analysts Chris Collins and Melissa Nicandri were among the 64 passengers and crew aboard American Airlines flight 5342.

Investors added $741.7 million to municipal bond mutual funds in the week ending Wednesday, following $2.078 billion of inflows the prior week, according to LSEG Lipper data.

Even with the possibility of inflation and fiscal policy-induced headwinds, there is much to be optimistic about in the muni market, despite some possible near-term turbulence, said GW&K strategists.

Two public electric utilities in Los Angeles County received negative outlooks from S&P citing costs, liabilities, and litigation stemming from wildfires.

The Fed meets this week, but the probability of another cut at Wednesday's meeting seems low amid elevated inflation and growth data, said Matt Fabian, a partner at Municipal Market Analytics.