Finance

The muni market is in the "doldrums of August," SWBC's Chris Brigati said.

The latest Moody's downgrades to the district's general obligation and lease obligation debt affect $847 million of outstanding bonds.

Munis are in a holding pattern, NewSquare Capital's Kim Olsan said, and they're likely to remain so until the next FOMC meeting.

The outlook revision to negative from stable for the system's revenue bond ratings was spurred by expense-increasing moves in the fiscal 2027 budget.

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Moody's Ratings and Fitch Ratings both lifted their rating outlooks to positive on the San Francisco Unified School District.

NYC's final budget did enough for KBRA to bring its rating outlook on New York City back up to stable.

Munis are in a summer lull, waiting to see if CPI data will prompt the FOMC to hike rates, according to Cooper Howard, director of fixed income strategy at Schwab.

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Introducing The Bond Buyer's newest class of Rising Stars, who will be honored at an awards dinner in Chicago on Sept. 14-15, 2026.

The markets are in a "holding pattern" as they wait for news on the Strait of Hormuz and Fed policy, FHN Financial's Ajay Thomas said.

Market Intelligence analyst Jeff Lipton says muni investors should treat July as a reset, not a retreat, with positive flows, compelling taxable-equivalent yields and selective repricing supporting modest single-digit returns by yearend.

This week, issuance falls to an estimated $9.651 billion, with $6.611 billion of negotiated deals on tap and $3.04 billion of competitives, according to LSEG.

The payroll data lowered fears of a rate hike, boosting munis and USTs.

Geopolitical and macroeconomic factors are hurting USTs, but the muni market still has momentum, said Hennion & Walsh's James Pruskowski.

News of negotiations with Iran, a strong backdrop from USTs and meaningful tax-equivalent yields are helping the market digest the "deal deluge," according to NewSquare Capital's Kim Olsan.

The Federal Reserve governor said inflation is too high but said she ultimately voted last week to hold interest rates steady to give recent economic trends more time to play out.

Muni yields are still higher than they were in June, said Patrick Luby of CreditSights, so investors were happy to put redemption money to work

Market Intelligence analyst Jeff Lipton says overreliance on financial ratios can obscure forward-looking credit risks, making qualitative factors such as political willingness, management strategy, cyber-threat preparedness, legal security and economic and policy change essential to muni decision-making.

Positive developments in Iran have munis looking stronger, said Tim Iltz of H.J. Sims, but if the headlines turn negative, it could hurt markets in a week with high volume.