Primary bond market

To help state and local governments after the COVID-19 pandemic, Cumberland Advisors is proposing a new municipal security.

The primary market remained mostly on the sidelines with issuers slow to jump back into coronavirus-driven volatility while also awaiting Fed engagement.

The city, smarting from two new negative rating outlooks, says it can change the competitive deal's timing or reject bids if the market turns against it.

Municipal bond issuance was $67.88 billion after the first two months of 2020 and was on pace to easily eclipse the $400 billion mark — then COVID-19 completely turned the market upside down.

A more measured tone settled in on Monday as new deals begin to price in a coronavirus-weary marketplace. Municipal credit is beginning to come into focus.

Actions by the Fed and the passage of the CARES Act have served to calm the markets to a large degree during the recent choppiness. These actions will ease the way for some deals to come to market this week.

The firm will pre-qualify competitive sales to make sure they meet the ICMA’s green or social bond principles.

The municipal bond market is poised to begin digesting larger primary issuance in the coming week after a massive rally in recent days.

The operators of the venue argue that COVID-19's economic impact makes a $400 million expansion all the more important.

Supply-starved investors flocked to the St. Louis-based private university's taxable deal, which was upsized to $450 million from $300 million.

Benchmark yields fell another 50 to 60 basis points, dropping them more than 1.5% in just four days. Meanwhile, a $450 million taxable new-issue came to market and was eight times oversubscribed.

With outflows occurring, Eric Kazatsky, muni strategist at Bloomberg Intelligence, maintains that muni appetite will vary directly with the credit hits that will be sustained in this environment. In some ways, he sees a return to pricing for the risk and the fundamentals. Taxable munis and ESG bonds will continue to gain in popularity. The future depends on the level of fiscal support in order to emerge from the crisis. John Hallacy hosts. Taped two weeks ago

Municipal benchmark yields were lowered by 60 to 80 basis points across the curve. Some trades pointed to nearly a 1% bump on short-term paper while state and local governments grapple with downgrades and revenue shortfalls.

The short end in particular was rebounding after Fed announced it would include variable rate demand obligations and short-term paper to its balance sheets.

Disclosure in a series of pending and recently priced Midwest healthcare deals underscore the rapidly evolving impact of COVID-19.

The Fed today added in variable rate demand notes to other short-term municipal debt to a list of assets eligible to be used as collateral by financial institutions, which contributed to some stability in the secondary market.

The timing of a $1.5 billion deal California had planned to price Thursday is no longer firm amid massive dislocations in the markets.

The municipal bond market is facing a new reality as yields rise, issuance slows and investors remaining skittish about the future.

A big New York State Empire Development Corp. private placement is likely to be followed by more until the municipal primary starts functioning again.

The municipal bond market again sold off as much as a half percentage point across the curve.