Primary bond market

Investors poured $1.094 billion into municipal bond mutual funds in the latest week, versus the $236.491 million of inflows the week prior. It marks only the second time this year inflows eclipsed $1 billion.

The Investment Company Institute reported investors pulled $246 million out of muni bond mutual funds in the week ending July 27 compared to the $602 million of outflows in the previous week.

Since 2011, the city has issued about $5.6 billion of debt, with the most issuance occurring in 2021 when it sold $785 million.

The large primary was led by two $700-plus million of revenue bonds from the Port of Seattle and the Georgia Ports Authority.

Summer redemption season starts winding down; Net negative supply stands at $18.777 while 30-day visible is at $12-plus billion.

Municipals will end July with positive returns across all sectors. The Bloomberg Municipal Index shows a 2.49% return in July, moving year-to-date losses lower to 6.71%.

The deal is the latest in a series of credit offerings the city is using to incentivize and grow the local charter school industry for the future.

Total July volume was $25.598 billion in 520 deals versus $37.573 billion in 1,013 issues a year earlier, according to Refinitiv data.

Investors added $236.491 million to municipal bond mutual funds, per Refinitiv Lipper data, versus the $698.782 million of outflows the week prior. High-yield saw inflows hit nearly $550 million.

Municipals are poised to end July in the black. Demand for muni product has been strong this summer, with analysts expecting supportive market technicals through August with a likely continuation of positive performance.

With the Fed committed to fighting inflation with aggressive rate hikes, fewer issuers want to take the risk with taxable advance refundings.

The Louisiana Bond Commission approved $600 million of notes to help pay Hurricane Ida damage claims after several insurers went bankrupt and up to $1.1 billion to build a biorefinery.

Investors sit on the sidelines, waiting to see how much the Fed will hike rates. The consensus appears to be another 75 basis point rate hike, though a full point hike could be on the table.

With the Fed rate decision coming this week, issuers are sitting on the sidelines in both primary and secondary Monday with little changed yield curves.

Cleveland drew a Moody's upgrade as it was prepping an annual GO sale.

Munis were firmer to end the week but underperformed U.S. Treasuries.

The bank in recent months shuttered its muni proprietary trading unit — which used the firm’s own cash to trade and invest — as part of a push to focus on providing more of its balance sheet to larger, institutional clients, according to people familiar with the matter.

Investors pulled $698.782 million out of municipal bond mutual funds, per Refinitiv Lipper data, versus the $206.127 million of inflows the week prior. High-yield saw small inflows.

The top two bond insurers — Assured Guaranty and Build America Mutual — accounted for $17.132 billion of deals in the first two quarters.

The Investment Company Institute reported investors added $543 million to muni bond mutual funds in the week ending July 13 compared to the $1.061 billion of outflows in the previous week.