Markets

Municipal bond volume is forecast to hold steady in the coming week after the Federal Open Market Committee decided to keep the benchmark interest rate near zero.

Based on GASB 25 data, 2014 was the best year for state pensions since the recession, Loop Capital Markets said in its public pension funding review.

Municipal bond funds saw outflows for the fourth straight week, according to Lipper data released on Thursday. Weekly reporting funds experienced $411.069 million of outflows in the week ended Sept. 16, after seeing outflows of $95.986 million in the previous week, Lipper reported.

The weekly average yield to maturity of The Bond Buyer Municipal Bond Index, which is based on 40 long-term bond prices, was three basis points higher to 4.47% for the week ended Sept. 17 from 4.44% in the previous week.

State tax revenues increased 5.8% in the first quarter of 2015 from revenues in the first quarter of 2014, according to the Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government.

The municipal market has priced in a possible rate increase this week, even though some analysts are now suggesting the Fed may wait longer before making its first move since 2008.

Municipal bond volume won’t make much of a comeback in the first full week after Labor Day as issuers await a decision on interest rates at the Sept. 16 and 17 Federal Open Market Committee meeting.

The Affordable Care Act is helping lift the non-profit health care sector out of its years-long torpor, according to Standard & Poor’s, which revised its outlook on the sector to stable from negative.

Municipal bond funds again saw outflows in the latest week, according to Lipper data released on Thursday. Weekly reporting funds experienced $95.986 million of outflows in the week ended Sept. 9, after seeing outflows of $586.481 million in the previous week, Lipper reported.

In the week ended Sept. 10, the weekly average yield to maturity of the Bond Buyer Municipal Bond Index was up two basis points to 4.44% from 4.42% in the previous week. The BB40 Index is based on the price of 40 long-term bonds.