Washington

A few deals trickled into a stronger market, ahead of Wednesday’s interest rate announcement.

The survey of securities firms showed pressures caused by unfunded pension obligations is expected to be the biggest issue for the muni market next year.

The Treasury Department announced its auction closing schedule for the holiday weeks.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board is establishing a formal Academic Program as part of its mission to support academic and other researchers.

Market participants will focus on reading the tea leaves of the Fed statement Wednesday.

The municipal bond market will see a week of meager issuance, as all eyes are on the Federal Open Market Committee and its upcoming meeting.

While bond market prognosticators are confident the Federal Open Market Committee will raise the fed funds rate target by 25 basis points this week, they remain less certain on the outlook for 2019.

Analyst Marc Joffe says bulk downloading should be free on EMMA.

Budget officers in another 14 states have reported early fiscal 2019 revenues running within a half percentage of projections with only five telling the National Association of States Budget Officers they were collecting less than projected.

The MSRB got a green light for tighter reporting rules for dealers as the regulator starts to monitor the municipal fund securities market.