Sell side

Detroit-based Wayne State University will return to market with $31.7 million of general revenue refunding bonds, with proceeds refunding outstanding bonds.

A new classification scheme would allow market participants, both on the buy and sell sides, to correctly identify the source and nature of credit risk in their holdings and to aggregate such risk into meaningful sectors that share common risk drivers.

The private Massachusetts college is partnering with the Collegiate Housing Foundation to address a good problem for a Northeast school to have: rising demand.

Muni returns so far in August are in the black, with the Bloomberg Municipal Index at 0.53% this month and 1.04% year to date. High-yield continues to outperform with returns at 0.68% in August and 5.99% in 2024.

In an environment characterized by dwindling enrollment, slowing revenues, and the end of COVID-19 federal aid, small private universities are struggling to remain afloat.

The past several trading sessions have seen "crazy volatility," said Jennifer Johnston, director of research of municipal bonds at Franklin Templeton.

The state bond commission approved Wells Fargo, Bank of America and JPMorgan as part of an underwriting pool Louisiana can hire on debt deals.

The New York City Transitional Finance Authority is set up to refund Build America Bonds as part of a $2.11 billion deal slated to land in the market this week.

The short-term sale is an unusual maneuver that allows the CEA to temporarily lower the amount of available capital on its balance sheet.

"The forces of municipal fundamental and technical measures are setting up a reconciliation against higher UST yields," said Kim Olsan, senior vice president of municipal bond trading at FHN Financial.

July will see $35.2 billion of redemptions, down 13% month-over-month but still 35% higher than 2024's monthly average of $27 billion, said Pat Luby, head of municipal strategy at CreditSights.

In the first half of 2024, winding-down federal aid, a resurgence of Build America Bond refundings and election uncertainty have contributed to the surge in issuance, said James Welch, a portfolio manager at Principal Asset Management.

In 2024, variable rate (short put) issuance is up 6.4% increase year-over-year, LSEG data shows. Few expect issuance to return pre-financial crisis levels.

Finance officials for the city decided to be the first municipal issuer to use the distributed ledger technology for a $10 million deal, banking on cost savings, better liquidity and more access for retail investors to their bonds. Mayor Tom Koch, CFO Eric Mason and Strategic Asset Manager Rick Coscia say it should be the first of many deals for the industry.

Total volume currently stands at $224.13 billion, up 38.5% from $161.848 billion at this time last year. As the end of the first half approaches, several firms are revisiting their supply projections for the year, given the growth so far this year.

With the "pretty good run" month-to-date, it would not be unexpected to see "the market take a breather, and with a large calendar this coming week, it may again move sideways," said AllianceBernstein strategists in a weekly report.

The low-investment-grade offering for a high-profile public private partnership stood out in a crowded airport sector.

The one-notch upgrade from Fitch Ratings comes as the county plans to to sell up to $900 million in two lease revenue bond deals this summer.

Driven by ongoing capital expenditure funding and current refunding opportunities, airport issuance is estimated at $21 billion in 2024, with a slew of from June through September and more planned in December, according to Ramirez.

Even after paring down the capital plan, the MTA will need to issue debt, and sooner than planned. It will be issued under the MTA's transportation revenue credit rather than its congestion pricing credit, so near-term debt service costs will be higher, CEO Janno Lieber said.