Sell side

In the week ended Feb. 8, the weekly average yield to maturity of the Bond Buyer Municipal Bond Index rose to 3.98% from 3.94% the previous week.

It made cuts in its banking, sales, and trading staff Wednesday, sources told The Bond Buyer.

Stephens Inc. plans to expand its Texas offices after hiring Curt Shelmire in Dallas and Kevin Jackson in Austin.

Although market conditions are not pristine, with rising yields and little primary action, market participants expressed reason to believe the first week of February will be a positive one.

The Vermont Municipal Bond Bank is offering retail investors bonds that can be purchased in denominations as low as $1,000.

HJ Sims has named Melissa Messina as a senior vice president of investment banking in the Rockville, Md.

Brian Brewer will be the firm's public finance director following the retirement of longtime manager Keith Kolb.

There was no consensus on prospects for a federal infrastructure plan at Wednesday's Bond Buyer event.

Municipal bond volume evaporated in January, as the market felt the aftereffect of federal tax legislation that pulled issuance forward into 2017.

It will take some time to see how both tax reform and infrastructure makes an impression on the muni market, said panelists at The Bond Buyer's National Outlook 2018 Conference.

Against a backdrop of chronic state budget strife, Jefferies will price the Commonwealth Financing Authority’s tobacco master settlement bonds this week.

Another week of modest muni volume is expected, as issuers offer more chunks of taxable bonds.

Chicago’s Sales Tax Securitization Corp. bonds cleared the market after a one-week delay.

The authority realized $534 million in present-value savings from those transactions in 2017, said finance director Patrick McCoy.

The cloud-based application is designed to help smaller firms access data on a broader universe of bonds.

The university expects healthy reception for its higher education bonds in a supply-constrained market.

The city will see Monday if its retooled sales tax securitization issue is a go with the market.

Muni volume in the last week of January is forecast to match that of the first three weeks combined, satisfying pent-up investor demand.

A state official cited the need to have special tax obligation bonds rated "on the bonds' own merits," distinct from the state's GOs.

Uncertainties surrounding tax reform and a spike in supply are creating opportunities in the municipal market. Natalie Cohen, head of Municipal Research at Wells Fargo Securities, weighs the various factors. John Hallacy hosts.