Markets

ICI reported another week of inflows at $2.23 billion. U.S. Treasuries strengthened further as COVID-19 concerns linger with shutdowns in Germany and spreads elsewhere. Equities were mixed.

The primary led the secondary to lower yields as UST 10-year fell to lows last seen a week ago. Regional service sector surveys released Tuesday showed improvement, which feeds into the belief that inflation will rise in the near term.

Monday’s economic data suggested weakness, with existing home sales declining for the first time in four months and the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago’s National Activity Index slipping into negative territory, but economists are not concerned.

The public notice filed on EMMA is the first report by any issuer in calendar 2021 of any type of IRS audit communication.

The suburban New York county will go to market next month armed with a positive outlook from the rating agency, its first movement on the county since 2012.

Exactly one year after record billions were pulled from municipal bond mutual funds and the market was in free fall, municipals followed U.S. Treasuries this week as the markets continued to dismiss the Fed's outlook on inflation and rates.

Yields jumped as much as 10 basis points as new deals saw some concessions as munis played catch up to the run-up in U.S. Treasury rates after the 10-year hit 1.75% mid-session. Refinitiv Lipper reports nearly $1.3 billion of inflows.

The rise of machine learning. Continued growth of electronic trading. Intensifying automation. Stephanie Sparvero, Global Head of BVAL Evaluated Pricing at Bloomberg, talks about these issues and more in how the muni market is charting a changing muni landscape. Lynne Funk hosts. (30 minutes)

The Fed remains dovish, although it raised inflation projections and lowered expected unemployment rates, but most participants still see rates at the zero lower bound in 2023.

Illinois rode the tailwinds of market demand for higher-yielding paper and its rosier fiscal picture, sending its primary market spreads to their lowest since 2014.