Markets

The Chicago Fed National Activity Index for January fell to negative 0.43 from a downwardly revised positive 0.05 in December.

Note issuance declined in 2018 as a result of tax reform, rate fears, and ongoing fiscal austerity sparked by state and local revenue growth.

Following a late-2017 rush to market of advance refundings and private-activity bonds in the run-up to the implementation of new tax legislation, supply in 2018 -- particularly refunding issuance -- suffered a steep decline.

IHS Markit Ipreo forecasts weekly bond volume will increase to $4.9 billion.

Issuers in the Northeast sold $95.5 billion of municipal bonds in 2018, off 21.3% from 2017 with an even more pronounced fourth-quarter drop.

Municipal bond buyers are looking forward to a more robust new issue slate for next week.

Municipal bond buyers gave a warm reception to the two deals totaling $473 million.

The Florida Development Finance Corp. has been asked to approve a third private activity bond allocation for Brightline/Virgin Trains.

Escalating deficits and dwindling reserves triggered a downgrade nine months after the city's liquidity crisis.

Municipal bond buyers saw new issue supply rise on Thursday, led by issues in Louisiana and North Carolina.