Finance

Inflation and mandate pressures are key factors that moved the outlook lower.

Despite fixed-income seeing losses this month, Jeff Lipton, managing director of credit research at Oppenheimer, believes "a performance sea change is nearing."

After the year-end rally, "2024 bond investors have been reluctant buyers, prices creeping lower perhaps until the data and the Fed's next steps are more clear," said Matt Fabian, partner at Municipal Market Analytics.

This week's heavy new-issue calendar of tax-exempt supply "could lead to a modest cheapening of ratios," said Vikram Rai, head of municipal markets strategy at Wells Fargo.

Moody's Investors Service bumped Chicago's outlook to positive from stable, while affirming the city's Baa3 issuer and general obligation bond ratings.

Katz is well known for guiding operational improvement and expense control in the financial services sector, his new employer said.

Growing new-issue supply is "adding to bidders' 'wait-and-see' mentality with a variety of credits coming to market at favorable spreads," said FHN Financial's Kim Olsan. Next week's calendar hits $8.4 billion.

"Hiring Giles along with other senior and experienced hires over the last year demonstrates our deep commitment to public finance at a time when our competitors are laying off in droves or retrenching from the sector entirely," said Suzanne Shank, president and CEO of Siebert Williams Shank.

Altadena, California-based Episcopal Communities & Services for Seniors was able to sell bonds through a treasurer's conduit thanks to the new state law.

Muni yields rose up to eight basis points, depending on the scale, while UST yields rose up to six basis points at 30 years.

Hilltop plans to hire others over the next 12 to 18 months.

The Investment Company Institute Wednesday reported large inflows into municipal bond mutual funds, with investors adding $2.066 billion to funds, while exchange-traded funds saw $1.082 billion of outflows for the week ending Jan. 10.

Munis have "struggled to get out of starting gate" to start 2024 as munis are returning negative 0.24% so far this year, said Jason Wong, vice president of municipals at AmeriVet Securities.

The tax-exempt market could also see pressure due to "heavy issuance, anemic flows, and rate volatility," according to Barclays PLC.

S&P's outlook revision to positive means there is a one-in-three chance the state could have its AA-plus rating upgraded to AAA over the next two years.

The Chicago Board of Education on Wednesday saw its issuer rating and debt ratings from Moody's Investors Service elevated a notch to Ba1 from Ba2.

The top two municipal bond insurers wrapped $31.845 billion in 2023, up 10.4% from the $28.847 billion of deals in 2022, according to Refinitiv data.

The December consumer price index came in slightly stronger than expected, perhaps eliminating the possibility of a rate cut in March, analysts said.

There were several ways Adaje could integrate ficc.ai's offerings into its system, the most impactful would be tender offering analyses, said Dan Silva, Adaje CEO.

The one-year was cut up to eight basis points, depending on the scale.