Secondary bond market

The municipal market was hammered Wednesday by the COVID-19 pandemic with a more than quarter point correction in AAA benchmarks, issuers pulling deals off the shelves and more reports of pricing and evaluation confusion.

Uncertainty continues to hang over financial markets due to COVID-19. Stocks rebounded somewhat Tuesday while muni yields rose as much as 16 basis points — Tuesday saw a correction of sorts.

As COVID-19 wreaks havoc on global markets, munis try to keep pace.

As fear and uncertainty over COVID-19 rapidly grow, it has sent yields for both municipals and Treasuries to never before seen low levels — begging the question if we could see zero or negative yields here in the States?

The world remains on edge about the rapidly spreading COVID-19 and those fears once again have Treasury yields digging down even deeper. COVID-19 fears have now impacted fund flows, as municipals suffers outflows for the first time in 60 weeks.

Dan Scholl, head of municipal fixed income at Wilmington Trust, views munis as inefficient and retail oriented. However, he maintains credit has never been better. In managing $5 billion of assets in high-grade SMAs, he finds value in housing, healthcare and IDBs. John Hallacy hosts.

It was a busy day in the primary, as the markets continue to deal with crosscurrents of COVID-19 and election results.

The Federal Open Market Committee cut the fed funds rate 50 basis points to a range between 1% and 1.25%. The decision to cut rates was unanimous.

The MSRB's annual fact book showed that trading volume dipped 14% year over year.

The municipal bond market is in for another action-packed week, with above-average issuance and COVID-19 still spreading rapidly.