Primary bond market

Policymakers appear to be concerned about the possibility of cutting interest rates too soon, according to minutes of the Federal Open Market Committee's Jan. 30-31 meeting, released Wednesday.

"With the new economic data signaling a delay of the Fed starting rate cuts to further into the year, we should continue to see yields rise until we get near to the Fed's target of a 2% 'neutral' rate for inflation," said Jason Wong, vice president of municipals at AmeriVet Securities.

A private university in Milwaukee will borrow $163.7 million through tax-exempt bonds to build new emergency response facilities for the state and county.

All municipal bond insurers wrapped $35.381 billion in 2023, a 5.8% increase from the $33.428 billion insured in 2022, according to LSEG data.

Bond volume fell slightly, as volatility, higher interest rates, falling pandemic aid and slower economic growth kept issuers on the sidelines.

Issuance has fluctuated throughout the years since the financial crisis, following interest rate changes — rising when rates rise and falling when rates fall — but the totals have come in well below $15 billion every year since 2012, save for 2017 when $15.234 billion was sold.

"Tight underwriting spreads in 2023 followed, for the most part, a well-entrenched trajectory that has backdropped the primary municipal market for years, and so the negligible bump in spreads does not come as a surprise," said Jeff Lipton, managing director of credit research at Oppenheimer.

"With supply still low, and fund outflows just marginal, it is not clear what would substantially cheapen the market, and we could get stuck in the current range for some time time," Barclays strategists said.

Municipal bond mutual funds saw the second week of outflows, with LSEG Lipper reporting $142.2 million of outflows for the week ending Wednesday. High-yield funds saw inflows.

The Chicago Park District Board of Commissioners unanimously approved three ordinances laying the groundwork for up to $37 million new money bonds and a tender.