Bonds

Surging COVID-19 hospitalization rates driven by the highly contagious Delta variant threaten to set back the not-for-profit healthcare sector’s recovery and pose new uncertainties, new reports warn. Hospitalizations are trending upward in all states with the 14-day increase at double-digit percentages for all but a few. The most daunting strains that could negatively impact hospital

Municipals were little changed in light trading on the last Friday of August as U.S. Treasuries made gains as did equities following Federal reserve Board Chair Jerome Powell’s Jackson Hole speech. The total potential volume for next week is estimated at $4.938 billion, an expected drop as the unofficial final week of summer comes ahead

Federal Reserve Gov. Lael Brainard spoke with the Biden-Harris Federal Reserve transition team in January and with the president’s Council of Economic Advisers in May, her calendar shows. The meeting with the Fed transition team occurred Jan. 8 and included Gary Gensler, who is now Securities and Exchange Commission chairman. Brainard’s diaries were provided to

The Santee Cooper Board of Directors gave official approval Thursday to this week’s sale of about $430 million of tax-exempt revenue bonds as North Carolina finalized the sale of its $253 million grant anticipation revenue vehicle bond deal. The the South Carolina Public Service Authority transaction included about $146 million of Series 2021A refunding bonds

Weakness moved out the yield curve Thursday as secondary bid-wanteds were still elevated while U.S. Treasuries pared earlier losses and equities sold off in the afternoon as news out of Afghanistan grew worse. For the 25th straight week, Refinitiv Lipper reported inflows into municipal bond funds. Investors put $1.9 billion of cash into the mutual

Municipal issuers in the Far West sold $50.1 billion of bonds in the first half of 2021, up 24.9% from the same period in 2020. The first quarter saw the biggest spike to $26.8 billion, a 74.4% increase during the same period a year ago, according to Refinitiv data. Issuers in California, the region’s biggest

Municipals faced some pressure and benchmark yield curves were cut by one to two basis points Wednesday. Municipals largely have shrugged off a weaker U.S. Treasury market and outperformed while mutual funds saw another $2 billion-plus week of inflows. The 10- and 30-year UST have risen nine basis points since Monday, while munis have only

Municipal issuers in the Southeast sold $37.13 billion of bonds in the first half of 2021, up 30% from the $28.56 billion sold in the same period in 2020. New money bonds accounted for $25.84 billion, a 70.9% increase, with refunding amounting to $9.56 billion, nearly flat at a 1.1% increase. Deals classed as combined

Kroll Bond Rating Agency raised its outlook on Chicago’s general obligation bonds to stable from negative and affirmed the city’s GO rating at A. “The stable outlook assignment and the outlook revision on the outstanding GO bonds recognizes the tenor of actions taken by the city’s management in confronting COVID-19 induced challenges, an improved revenue

The South Carolina Public Service Authority is set to sell $427 million of tax-exempt revenue obligations on Wednesday. The Santee Cooper deal consists of $138 million of Series 2021A refunding bonds and $289 million of Series 2021B improvement bonds. The bonds are secured by electric revenues and rated A2 by Moody’s Investors Service, A by

Municipals were unmoved in light trading to start the last week of August while U.S. Treasuries maintained Friday’s levels and equities advanced on news the FDA gave the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine full approval. Municipal benchmark yield curves continued to hold steady for the seventh day as investors await a diverse primary that includes gilt-edged Montgomery

Puerto Rico employment numbers were mixed in July. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ household survey showed July employment was down 0.06% from the June total. The bureau also releases an employment survey of non-farm establishments and this showed an increase of 0.4% from June. The survey does not include self-employment. July’s household survey total

Leaders of California’s high-speed rail project have not given up on garnering additional federal funds to pay for the slow-moving project that is supposed to link the state’s major cities. High-speed rail, championed by President Joe Biden on the campaign trail, was shunted to the sideline in the $1.2 trillion infrastructure package. Brian Kelly, chief

Dallas Fed President Robert Kaplan said he’s open to adjusting his view that the Federal Reserve should start tapering its asset-purchase program sooner rather than later if the Delta variant persists and hurts economic progress. The Fed is currently buying $80 billion per month in Treasuries and $40 billion in mortgage-backed securities in an effort

Some members of the Puerto Rico Oversight Board want to reach a “grand bargain” with the local legislature to complete Puerto Rico’s debt deals. Both the Puerto Rico House of Representatives and Senate have voted overwhelmingly in favor of measures declaring they would not approve any bonds for a Plan of Adjustment that cut pensions

The tax-exempt market languished through a quiet summer Friday as municipals finished unchanged for the sixth straight trading session. IHS Ipreo estimates supply for the upcoming week at $7.04 billion. The week’s supply is composed of $5.36 billion of negotiated deals and $1.68 billion of competitive sales. Breaking it down, Refinitiv MMD calculated the tax-exempt

The Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City’s annual Jackson Hole gathering, which was due to be held in person Aug. 26-28, is now shifting to a virtual format, the bank announced Friday. The regional Fed bank said it was making the move “due to the recently elevated COVID-19 health risk level in Teton County, Wyoming.”

Northeast municipal issuers sold $59.9 billion of debt over the first six months of this year, up 4.8% from the same period of 2020 as states, cities and agencies adjusted to the COVID-19 environment and other variables. That included a 13.3% spike in the first quarter, to $29.5 billion from $26 billion. Many traditional issuers,

Municipals remained steady on an otherwise lackluster Thursday as the New York Liberty Development Corp. came to market with $1.22 billion of green bonds. Thursday saw the pricing of the last of the week’s large deals and a typical slow summer Friday lies ahead. A New York underwriter said the secondary continued to trade sideways

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam said the state ended fiscal year 2021 with a record level of reserves, a budget surplus of $2.6 billion and a rosy economic outlook. Speaking before the Legislature’s Joint Money Committee meeting Wednesday, the governor said the state is on track to put almost 15% of the general fund budget in