Finance

The Virginia Beach Development Authority priced about $189 million of debt on Thursday with some of the bond proceeds financing portions if the attraction.

There are nearly 30 new-issues over $100 million on tap across the credit spectrum, led by the week's largest negotiated deal from Harris County, Texas, with $950 million of toll road first lien revenue and refunding bonds. The competitive calendar ticks up with several high-grade names.

"In terms of credit quality, high-yield funds proved resilient" while investment-grade funds saw outflows of $673 million, noted J.P. Morgan's Peter DeGroot in a market note.

Fitch Ratings cited new rating criteria and increases in state funding in giving Milwaukee a three-notch bond rating boost. The outlook is stable.

The CPI print keeps the possibility of the Fed cutting rates at least once this year, potentially at least two rate cuts if the data continues to point to a trend of inflation falling further, said Jeff Lipton, a research analyst and market strategist.

Catch up on our recent coverage of the various legal issues and considerations impacting BAB redemptions.

This week's issuance is above the 2024's year-to-date weekly average of $7.6 billion, said Chris Brigati, senior vice president and director of strategic planning and fixed income research at SWBC.

The muni market improvement has the asset class seeing gains of 1.08% so far in May, as year-to-date returns inch closer to "positive territory," said Jason Wong, vice president of municipals at AmeriVet Securities.

The New York City Transitional Finance Authority leads the new-issue calendar with a total of $1.8 billion of future tax-secured subordinate bonds in the negotiated and competitive markets.

Municipal bond mutual funds saw another week of inflows as investors added $1.053 billion in the week ending Wednesday, the second-largest figure this year.