FOMC

A trio of COVID-19 cases among Democrats is expected to delay Senate plans to confirm Federal Reserve nominee Lisa Cook and Federal Trade Commission nominee Alvaro Bedoya this week.

“I would say that 50 basis points will be on the table for the May meeting,” Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said Thursday.

The significant cheapening of municipals in recent weeks continues to create headwinds for the overall tax-exempt market on a daily basis.

With the Federal Reserve planning aggressive rate hikes and balance sheet reduction, Dec Mullarkey, managing director of investment strategy and asset allocation at SLC Management, discusses the Federal Open Market Committee meeting minutes, his analysis of the economy and what to expect going forward. Gary Siegel hosts. (33 minutes)

Investors pulled more from municipal bond mutual funds in the latest week, with Refinitiv Lipper reporting $3.247 billion of outflows, of that $1 billion was high-yield. ETFs are still seeing inflows.

Investors pulled more from municipal bond mutual funds as the Investment Company Institute reported $4.5 billion of outflows in the week ending March 30.

Details on how officials expect to proceed are expected to be revealed on Wednesday when the Fed publishes minutes of its March 15-16 meeting.

Outflows continued, with Refinitiv Lipper reporting investors shed $1.503 billion from municipal bond mutual funds in the week, following outflows of $2.136 billion in the previous week. High-yield saw small inflows.

Scott Colbert, executive vice president and chief economist at Commerce Trust Co., will discuss the Federal Reserve's monetary policy decision and where they go from here.

Muni performance has been strong as of late, and spreads have actually corrected after a month of gradual widening.