Sell side

UBS' Head of Municipal Trading Doug Vissicchio joins Bond Buyer's Lynne Funk to talk muni shop.

S&P Global Ratings joined Moody's in assigning a negative outlook to its triple-A rating, but a criteria change pushed Fitch's rating of the city up to AAA.

"Each party in this deal benefits in some way," said Seema Mohanty, founder of Mohanty Gargiulo.

Along with UBS' departure from the negotiated underwriting space, various firms have hired talent from both firms to increase their primary and secondary market presence. Many hope for some positive effects in both competition and secondary market liquidity as a result.

A combination of a "stronger-than-expected economy, higher Treasury rates, robust supply, and rich valuations resulting in choppy markets" have made the trading environment in H124 "quite difficult," according to Barclays.

"Folloing recent yield moves, a generic muni index is now down 1% on the month with no real sub-sector showing much deviation from that result," said Kim Olsan, senior vice president of trading at FHN Financial.

Jeffrey Scruggs, Managing Director and Head of Public Sector and Infrastructure Group at Goldman Sachs, sits down with Bond Buyer Executive Editor Lynne Funk on the state of the muni industry.

The growing federal debt level may pressure lawmakers to retract or reduce the tax-exemption for munis to generate revenue, some market participants argue.

The firm said Saporito's hiring is among several other additions made to beef up Wells Fargo's commitment to munis.

The criteria should result in a nearly equal number of upgrades and downgrades in the next half year, according to the rating agency.

Two mega deals recently priced with make-whole calls for bonds due in 2034 and shorter where the market does not appear "to be penalizing issuers for including an optional make whole call feature in the short maturity tax-exempt bonds," said Pat Luby, head of Municipal Strategy at CreditSights, in a report.

Municipal bonds on the rise

Most of the selling during tax season happens on the front end of the curve, said Wesly Pate, senior portfolio manager at Income Research + Management.

The former Citi banker earlier this month was tapped by Huntington National Bank to become the firm's head of public finance, becoming the fourth woman to ascend to the role in the municipal industry.

The UC Regents will close the books on its $1.1 billion refunding deal that included the refunding BABs Wednesday. Investors do not appear to be penalizing the issuer in secondary trading as spreads have stayed at or near the original pricing.

Since becoming head of public finance at Oppenheimer in January, Coolidge said she'll be looking to pick up opportunity amid last year's Wall Street retrenchment and offer clients financing solutions from across the firm.

Three Pillars Senior Living has already pre-sold 70% of the planned units that will support the bonds.

Vivian Altman ascended to managing director and head of public finance at Janney Montgomery Scott in 2017, and is now one of four women leaders in the space.

Hallam will handle high-yield muni sales and trading, focusing on large institutional accounts at the firm.

The Washington refunding deal is built on an extraordinary optional redemption of Build America Bonds despite criticism from investors who hold them.