Primary bond market

Smaller issuers will find it easier to tell their stories to investors who are looking to customize their portfolios.

The Investment Company Institute Wednesday reported large inflows into municipal bond mutual funds, with investors adding $2.066 billion to funds, while exchange-traded funds saw $1.082 billion of outflows for the week ending Jan. 10.

The state of Wisconsin is embarking on a flurry of debt-related activity as the year begins, with a cash defeasance and three refunding deals on the table.

Munis have "struggled to get out of starting gate" to start 2024 as munis are returning negative 0.24% so far this year, said Jason Wong, vice president of municipals at AmeriVet Securities.

Bonds issued through the Westchester County Local Development Corp. will create a centralized base for the nonprofit's blood distribution and lab operations.

Proceeds from the PMT green bond sale will be used to finance transit and commuter projects that have been approved in the N.Y. MTA's capital programs.

The tax-exempt market could also see pressure due to "heavy issuance, anemic flows, and rate volatility," according to Barclays PLC.

S&P's outlook revision to positive means there is a one-in-three chance the state could have its AA-plus rating upgraded to AAA over the next two years.

The top two municipal bond insurers wrapped $31.845 billion in 2023, up 10.4% from the $28.847 billion of deals in 2022, according to Refinitiv data.

The December consumer price index came in slightly stronger than expected, perhaps eliminating the possibility of a rate cut in March, analysts said.

There were several ways Adaje could integrate ficc.ai's offerings into its system, the most impactful would be tender offering analyses, said Dan Silva, Adaje CEO.

"It is a torpedo into one of the safest, most secure pension systems in the United States, if not the world," said North Carolina Treasurer Dale Folwell.

The one-year was cut up to eight basis points, depending on the scale.

Lansing's Board of Water and Light is issuing $350 million of tax-exempt bonds in a deal that would fund a tender offer for $232.6 million of outstanding debt.

The offered curve is "still deeply overbought" at all maturities outside of one year, which is "a signal for issuers and sellers to become aggressive," said Matt Fabian, a partner at Municipal Market Analytics.

Since November, 10-year munis have fallen 130 basis points, according to Refinitiv MMD. This has pushed ratios to near-record lows, said Jason Wong, vice president of municipals at AmeriVet Securities.

The Alameda Corridor Transportation Authority announced a tender offer as part of a restructuring plan that could culminate in $1.36 billion of bonds.

The state of Illinois is preparing to issue $600 million in new Build Illinois junior sales tax revenue bonds next week.

After this week's sale, the state intends to issue another series of refunding bonds in February in connection with a potential tender offer for taxable GOs and a current refunding of some tax-exempt GOs.

Despite the outperformance this week, and while the asset class had "a stellar December, which rounded out a very solid year," Barclays PLC strategists said the high-grade muni market has become "quite rich."