Public finance

Even with the November increase, General Fund Revenues collected from July to November were 5% below those of 2019.

It was inevitable that muni yields would need to rise somewhat as the UST 10-year broke above 1%, however participants said the supply/demand imbalance will keep munis from rising as quickly as Treasuries. More than $1 billion inflows reported.

John Hallacy, founder of John Hallacy Consulting LLC, talks about the most important opportunities and challenges the municipal bond market will face in 2021. He gives his estimate on where muni volume may be headed, discusses the possibility of a federal infrastructure program and talks about what to expect under a Biden Administration. Chip Barnett hosts. (Recorded Dec. 22; 22 minutes)

Three of seven board members will be from the original group.

FOMC members backed maintaining asset purchases, although “a couple” were “open” to “weighting purchases of Treasury securities toward longer maturities,” according to minutes released Wednesday.

Some economists say the changes, such as a rise in minimum wage, would be a negative for the local economy.

The South Carolina Jobs-Economic Development Authority’s RecoverSC program has up to $100 million in total bonding authority.

The growth in issuance in 2020 spread out over the top 10 underwriters, with bulge-bracket firms sharing the wealth.

Without the benefit of a larger new-issue calendar, secondary trading is likely to continue the theme of the final two months of 2020: more bidders than bonds.

From the Centennials to the COVID generation, the municipal market's demographics will change dramatically in the next decade as will the way investors view investing in munis.

Bel Air Investment Advisors is Hightower's 14th and largest acquisition in a year, with $8 billion of assets under management including $2.8 billion of municipals.

Paul Herman and Adam Mason of HIP Investor examine environmental, social and governance risks, ratings disconnects, transparency needs and HIP's deep dive into hospital systems. Paul Burton hosts. Recorded Dec. 14. (25 minutes).

Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago President Charles Evans says monetary policy will need to remain “accommodative for quite a while,” since inflation won’t hit a 2% average for “a long time.”

The new-issue calendar builds from almost nothing to $2.4 billion in the first week of the New Year, with deals ranging from education to taxables to social bonds on tap for investors.

The deal is rated BBB-plus by Fitch Ratings, Baa1 by Moody’s Investors Service and BBB by S&P Global Ratings.

After one of the worst sell-offs in municipal market history as COVID-19 began its rampage in March, the market rebounded to set the all-time record.

Dominick D'Eramo, head of fixed income at Wilmington Trust Investment Advisors, talks with Chip Barnett about how the municipal bond market did in 2020 and what may be on tap for munis in the new year. (12 minutes)

Budget watchdogs and others say the city must do more than just muddle through.

Municipal bond funds saw $2.086 billion of inflows in the week ended Dec. 22, the Investment Company Institute reported Wednesday after a $2.517 billion inflow the week prior.

Moody's says the coronvirus' economic impact adds to fiscal pressures on several of the state's cities dependent on oil and gas revenue