Markets

With the reputational stain from the county's 1994 bankruptcy long in the rearview mirror, the southern California county had its rating boosted to the highest rating by S&P Global Ratings.

The $238.8 million of voter-approved debt will end a 12-year drought in new money general obligation issuance by the nation's fifth largest city.

Financial markets are trying to "absorb" the outcome of higher odds of Trump winning in November, said James Pruskowski, chief investment officer at 16Rock Asset Management.

While the market awaits the initial FDTA proposal, some wonder if the rulemaking will be affected by the upcoming presidential election and the U.S. Supreme Court's Chevron decision.

Cabarrus County planned to use most of the proceeds to pay off a bond anticipation note.

The New York City Transitional Finance Authority is set up to refund Build America Bonds as part of a $2.11 billion deal slated to land in the market this week.

In the summer, the market will largely move "sideways" and underperform late in the third quarter to early in the fourth quarter, "while possibly recouping most of its losses late in the year depending on the outcome of November elections," said Barclays strategists.

The Public Finance Authority, a Wisconsin-based conduit issuer, approved the municipal bond sale for the roads operated by Spanish firm Abertis in a P3.

"Bond yields are plunging [Thursday] as rate cut expectations soar following this morning's consumer price index release, which depicted the first month of deflation since July 2022," noted José Torres, senior economist at Interactive Brokers.

Large-scale issuers, including state-level transportation authorities, counties and sales tax entities, have "planned volume to coincide with implied demand," said Kim Olsan, senior vice president of municipal bond trading at FHN Financial.