Washington

Washington plans to sell the GOs by competitive bid on Feb. 8 to fund various projects.

Utilities in Texas and eastern Washington see the benefit of serving the power hungry operations.

The FOMC will likely take the opportunity to profess its reliance on data to decide liftoff and reiterate the threshold for a rate hike remains higher than for taper.

New money volume in the Far West was up 31.9% to $29.5 billion, while refunding volume rose a more modest 11%.

Washington GOs came at tighter spreads than a spring sale in the competitive market while sizable negotiated deals saw bumps in repricings. Refinitiv Lipper reported $1.4 billion of inflows in the 21st consecutive week.

The rating agencies affirmed two AA-plus and one triple-A rating ahead of the deal.

Recovering air passenger numbers were one factor Fitch Ratings cited in revising the Port of Seattle's outlook to stable from negative.

The bulk of $743 billion in improvements needed to alleviate climate risk and aging infrastructure would be borne by the utilities, a rating agency says.

Rates, ratios and credit spreads have munis entering May on solid footing, though some pressures due to tax season and rising U.S. Treasuries remain.

Forward delivery sales, a replacement for tax-exempt advance refundings, could grow in 2021.