Markets

Variable rate debt represents 8% of the bond portfolio of New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority — well below its 25% threshold, said finance manager Patrick McCoy.

Municipal volume is forecast to plunge in the week ahead, with no negotiated deals bigger than $209 million and only eight issues larger than $100 million.

The weekly average yield to maturity of The Bond Buyer Municipal Bond Index, which is based on 40 long-term bond prices, increased three basis points to 4.26% from 4.23% for the week ended April 16.

Rhode Island's serious financial challenges extend well beyond the headline 38 Studios bond financing controversy, said a report by Gurtin Fixed Income Management.

Muni managers are earning attractive yields from lower quality bonds and minimizing their exposure to the long end of the yield curve.

Gary Binkiewicz, a 35-year veteran in the municipal bond market, has joined R. Seelaus and Co. as a senior vice president and head municipal bond analyst after just over two years at First Southwest, where held the same position.

A network interruption brought down the financial market’s largest inventory management system Friday morning, stifling municipal bond trading on some platforms and highlighting vulnerability of the market to technological failures.

Municipal bond issuance is set to jump in the coming week led by deals from the West Coast, as issuers look to lower borrowing costs.

For the week ended April 16, the weekly average yield to maturity of the Bond Buyer Municipal Bond Index, which is based on 40 long-term bond prices, increased one basis point to 4.23% from 4.22% in the week ended April 9.

The firm, which opened its doors in Philadelphia on April 11, 1975, is now one of the nation's leading providers of independent financial advisory services to state, local, and regional government and non-profit institutions and clients throughout the country.