Refinitiv Lipper reported the first inflows into municipal bond mutual funds at $216 million after three weeks of large outflows while high-yield saw small outflows. Exchange-traded funds reported $755 million of inflows.

Sarah Bloom Raskin tried again Wednesday to assuage Republicans’ concerns about her hawkish stances on mitigating climate risks ahead of a vote on her nomination to be Wall Street’s top bank regulator.

Markets were somewhat comforted by Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta President Raphael Bostic’s comments suggesting the Fed will not be as aggressive as the markets suspect.

The Federal Reserve Bank of Boston announced Susan Collins, provost and executive vice president for academic affairs at the University of Michigan, will become its next president effective July 1.

The state of Washington sold $743 million of general obligation bonds in the competitive market at similar spreads to its November sale while some issuers have moved to the day-to-day calendar.

Municipal to UST ratios hit highs earlier in the week, creating entry points for buyers to return to the market even as ratios fell on the week. The primary will see a smaller calendar at $5.4 billion.

Former U.S. Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers said investors need to brace for the Federal Reserve to potentially raise interest rates at all seven remaining policy meetings this year and even for it to hike by more than a quarter point in one go.

Municipals were stronger again on the day, though, and new-issues were repriced to lower yields.

The UST selloff and rate fears spooked investors in January, but experts predict more opportunity and a stronger tone for munis in the remainder of the first quarter.

The White House's pick for vice chair for supervision, Sarah Bloom Raskin, took the brunt of criticism from Republicans on Thursday. But it seemed to do little to sow doubt among the Senate Banking Committee's moderate Democrats about Raskin or fellow nominees Lisa Cook and Philip Jefferson.

Republicans have knocked Sarah Bloom Raskin as too liberal on climate change and Lisa Cook as underqualified ahead of a Senate Banking Committee hearing Thursday. Meanwhile, a Democratic senator's illness threatens to stall nomination votes in the full chamber.

Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President James Bullard said he would like to raise interest rates at the central bank’s meetings in March and May but played down the benefits of a larger-than-expected move.

Triple-A benchmark curves were bumped two to five basis points outside of five years as markets calmed to start February.

Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin praised all five of President Biden's nominees for the Federal Reserve, an important signal for their confirmations in the 50-50 Senate.

Market volatility has led to munis seeing the worst performance to start the year since 2018 and the biggest monthly losses since March 2020.

Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco President Mary Daly said the central bank could raise interest rates as early as March to fight high inflation, but she cautioned against overreacting and tightening policy too fast.

Bostic stuck to his prediction that three quarter-point increases starting in March is the most likely scenario, though stubbornly high consumer prices may justify a more robust rate rise.

Short-end muni yields have risen more than 30 basis points on some triple-A scales over the past five trading sessions.

The two biggest U.S. banks raised their forecasts of how quickly the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates this year, with Bank of America Corp. predicting a move at every meeting to tackle the highest inflation in four decades.

Returns are deep in the red with the Bloomberg Municipal Index at negative 1.85%, while high-yield sits at negative 1.81%.