Primary bond market

The Federal Reserve will be more cautious and slow rate cuts going forward, according to minutes of the December Federal Open Market Committee meeting, released Wednesday.

Pressing issues like the shifts in banking teams at various firms following Citi's exit from the business to major ratings changes make the ranking.

"Further Treasury rate volatility or distractions from more favorable alternatives could at the very least moderate money invested into the municipal bond market," DWS strategists said. However, "these dynamics could create periods of opportunity to buy tax-exempt bonds at attractive yields in 2025."

After selling $500 million of revenue bonds in 2023, the turnpike authority could return to the market later this month with a $1.3 billion issue.

"These opportunities will surface periodically throughout the year against heavy supply and the increasingly uncertain path for the Fed, evolving fiscal policy, and volatile Treasury market backdrop," said J.P. Morgan strategists.

The Indiana Municipal Power Agency will issue $268.3 million of power supply system revenue bonds with a mix of new money and refunding debt.

Heavy redemptions and coupon payments this month should help "stabilize" the market, said Barclays strategist Mikhail Foux.

Investors pulled more from municipal bond mutual funds in the final reporting week of 2024, but high-yield reverted to inflows to close out the year, adding to the sector's outperformance overall.

While municipals have outperformed USTs on the whole in 2024, they will close December with losses. How taxables perform in early 2025 coupled with macroeconomic and Washington policy uncertainty have municipal market participants on edge for what lies ahead.

The muni market saw $507.585 billion of debt issued in 2024, up 31.8% from $385.061 in 2023. This surpasses the previous record of $484.601 billion in 2020 by more than $20 billion, per LSEG data.