Markets

The rating agency affirmed Louisiana at AA-minus. The state also received its first-ever rating from Kroll Bond Rating Agency: a AA rating and stable outlook.

For four consecutive weeks, triple-A yields have fallen, and munis returned over 2.2% for the month, "a great reversal from February where munis returned a loss of 2.26%," said AmeriVet Securities' Jason Wong.

Headwinds remain, despite the S&P upgrade, as the district warns of a $600 million gap once federal COVID-19 aid runs out with its governance poised to change.

"Folks are aware of possible pressure that could weigh on the market, but attitudes are still generally more constructive than negative at this time," says Tom Kozlik of HilltopSecurities. 

The authority hopes to have solar and wind provide 30% of the islands' electricity within two years.

Fitch Ratings affirmed Illinois GO bonds at BBB-plus and lifted the rating outlook as the state prepares to sell up to $2.5 billion of general obligation debt.

Outflows continued as Refinitiv Lipper reported $194.097 million was pulled from municipal bond mutual funds in the week that ended Wednesday after $427.082 million of outflows the week prior.

The Irvine Facilities Finance Authority will price $455 million in special tax bonds to develop the Great Park in the Orange County, California, city.

Outflows continued, with the Investment Company Institute reporting investors pulled $693 million from mutual funds in the week ending March 22, after $684 million of outflows the previous week.

The publicly offered tax-exempt debt product is new for the firm and the collateralized debt obligation structure may be one of the first for the market since the 2008 financial crisis.