Markets

Fishers, a suburb of Indianapolis, is selling $170 million of bonds for an arena to house the minor-league Indy Fuel and to host concerts and other events.

The hire by Missouri-based Stifel comes as some broker-dealers trim ranks amid weak issuance.

The commonwealth revamped its P3 law last year in the wake of a court ruling striking down a tolled bridge program.

California received a negative outlook from the rating agency in May amid revenue uncertainty. The Public Works Board lease revenue bonds are rated Aa3.

The top two municipal bond insurers wrapped $22.814 billion in the first three quarters of 2023, a slight dip of 0.5% from the $22.929 billion of deals done over the same period in 2022, according to Refinitiv data.

Royden Durham and Tony Tanner, portfolio managers at the Aquila group of funds, talk with Chip Barnett about what's special about Kentucky and Arizona -- what's the same and what's different -- within their municipal bond markets. (18 minutes)

"The combination of higher yields and this week's heavier new-issue calendar will attract attention from income-focused individual investors as well as from institutional investors who are underweight munis," said CreditSights strategists Pat Luby and Sam Berzok.

As valuations got richer after muni outperformance this week, Barclays strategists expect munis to be "truly tested in the next several weeks, with supply picking up."

The recent rise in yields has created an opportunity for those investors waiting to "jump into the market," said Roberto Roffo, portfolio manager at SWBC Investment Company.  

Analysts discussed proposed changes to its metrics that will be finalized in January. An estimated 35% of ratings could experience upgrades or downgrades.