New York City Municipal Water Finance Authority

New York City Municipal Water Authority returns to the municipal primary after a $1.4 billion deal earlier this year.

Large deals were repriced to lower yields while the secondary market was lightly traded, leading to little changed triple-A yield curves and underperformance to Treasury market gains. Despite a growing calendar, the supply demand imbalance remains with much cash on the sidelines.

The muni market "exhibited similar themes from the past few weeks as extremely rich valuations and the upcoming unfavorable supply/demand picture have led to a measured buyer base," said Birch Creek Capital strategists in a report.

The city and its related issuers picked financial advisors to work on upcoming bond deals, including GO issuances, TFA deals and water authority sales.

The bonds are rated Aa2 by Moody's Investors Service, AA by S&P Global Ratings and Fitch Ratings and AA-plus by Kroll Bond Rating Agency. All four rating agencies have a stable outlook on the credit.

"People are just kind of sitting on their hands and being careful because MMD is raising yields every day and people don't know which way this is heading," said John Farawell of Roosevelt & Cross.

Despite looming economic and social challenges, New York City's economy has proven to be more resilient than projected, New York's comptrollers Brad Lander and Thomas DiNapoli say.

New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli urged state agencies to do more to protect water systems from cyberattacks as Moody's Investors Service said cyber risks pose challenges to municipalities across the United States.

Olson, a 20-year municipal bond veteran, replaces Marjorie Henning who retired at the end of April. In his new position, he will be in charge of the Bureau of Public Finance, which manages the city's borrowing for the comptroller.

While fiscal 2023 and 2024 budgets remain balanced, outyear gaps increase to $4.2 billion, $6.0 billion and $7.0 billion in fiscal 2025 through 2027, respectively.

Mayor Eric Adams executive budget "will be released in just 51 days, giving us limited time to marshal the substantial resources we will need to stay balanced in fiscal 2023 and 2024," said OMB Director Jacques Jiha.

"As we spoke with our underwriting partners and our municipal advisors, given [market] volatility, we shortened that retail order period to one day," says OMB's David Womack.

"I think ESG is here to stay in our market. I think it's a natural fit with the types of infrastructure that our market finances," said MSRB CEO Mark Kim.

"The overall tone of the budget is one of prudency, which is correct during this current period where federal pandemic aid is winding down and there are questions about whether we enter into a recession," said Howard Cure of Evercore Wealth Management.

"An increase in social distancing and remote work has resulted in growing vacant office space since late 2020. Office rents have also trended down and remained depressed into 2022," according to the Popular Annual Financial Report.

New York City will also release the first quarter update to the fiscal 2023 financial plan this month.

The municipal market was a tale of two halves in fiscal 2022, the report says.

Brad Lander says using municipal bonds could be one way to help move recent immigrants into mainstream society and provide a long-term economic boost to the city.

The firm’s project finance & public finance practice comprises more than 50 attorneys and professional colleagues and is looking to add.

The final budget sets aside about $8.3 billion in budget reserves, which bring them to the highest level in the city's history.