The top muni underwriters accounted for $406.51 billion in 10,582 transactions in 2019 compared to $320.35 billion in 8,549 deals in 2018. There was only one change in the top five year-over-year but spots six through 10 saw three changes. Barclays and Stifel both had big improvments in the rankings, while Raymond James dropped the most.
A combination of a "stronger-than-expected economy, higher Treasury rates, robust supply, and rich valuations resulting in choppy markets" have made the trading environment in H124 "quite difficult," according to Barclays.
Two rating agencies upgraded Los Angeles Unified School District's bond ahead of multi-billion dollar refunding.
The Basel III Endgame proposal to restructure capital holding levels comes under fire.
Friday price talk for the unrated tax-exempt paper was between 11% and 15%.
The board approved that step at its second quarter board meeting held this week.
The Inflation Reduction Act, affordable housing and clean energy were among the topics discussed at Baker Tilly's DevelUP conference in Chicago this week.
