Buy side

The week of June 8 will see the muni market with the largest deals being of the competitive variety, not negotiated.

Managing a small portfolio has advantages of generating significant income and returns for high net worth clients, according to Jeffery Elswick, director of fixed income at Frost Investment Advisors LLC.

The weekly average yield to maturity of The Bond Buyer Municipal Bond Index, which is based on 40 long-term bond prices, decreased one basis point to 4.42% for the week ended June 4 from 4.43% in the previous week.

For the fifth straight week, municipal bond funds reported outflows, bringing to eight out of 23 weeks this year the funds have suffered cash withdrawals, according to the latest Lipper data.

Helped by a stronger revenue backing, Chicago’s remarketing of $112 million of sales tax-backed fared notably better Wednesday than its general obligation issue a week earlier, though spreads demonstrated a substantial market penalty.

Moody's says that hospitals in Medicaid expansion states saw big drops in bad debt and that furthermore, providers across the entire sector saw improved financials in fiscal 2014.

The muni market will have a New York State of mind for the first week in June, as the two largest issues will be coming from the Empire State.

For the week ended May 28, the weekly average yield to maturity of the Bond Buyer Municipal Bond Index, which is based on 40 long-term bond prices, decreased two basis points to 4.43% from 4.45% from the previous week.

Financial and investing guru John C. Bogle says municipal buyers should be buy-and-hold investors, not trading speculators.

The Florida Legislature will attempt to bridge an impasse over low income healthcare funding that has left the state without a fiscal 2016 budget and facing a government shutdown.

Volume will drop below $6 billion in the coming week as new issuance tapers off after observance of Memorial Day on Monday.

The market for Florida debt is holding up in the face of a possible government shutdown, while the Chicago market is being penalized with wider spreads, higher yields, and a swell in bid-wanted lists after being downgraded to junk.

The weekly average yield to maturity of The Bond Buyer Municipal Bond Index, which is based on 40 long-term bond prices, increased four basis points to 4.45% for the week ended May 21 from 4.41% in the previous week.

Municipal credit prospects may be clouded for the next several years by underfunded pension obligations and a possible uptick in bankruptcies, according to panelists at a forum in New York.

The closure of the Treasury SLGS window has added a degree of difficulty to some refunding deals.

It will be yet another busy week in the primary market as issuers continue to take advantage of the current low interest rate environment. Long-term municipal bond volume for the week of May 18 is expected to total roughly $9 billion, according to estimates from Ipreo and The Bond Buyer.

For the week ended May 14, the weekly average yield to maturity of the Bond Buyer Municipal Bond Index, which is based on 40 long-term bond prices, increased two basis points to 4.41% from 4.39% the previous week.

Expect more downgrades for Chicago after Moody’s Investors Service dropped the city to junk, creating new liquidity concerns, warns Nuveen Asset Management LLC.

For investors with risk tolerance, uninsured senior COFINA bonds are attractive compared with other island debt as well as COFINA’s own subordinate debt, Barclays analysts said.

State Rep. John McGinnis wants to shorten the Pennsylvania pension amortization period from 30 years to 20.