Municipal Bond News

Market News Commentary - From The Desk of David Loesch 11/05/2020

Submitted by Tax Free Municipal Bonds/Fixed Income Specialists/DRL Group on November 5th, 2020

Citizens in the State of IL rejected raising taxes on the wealthiest residents, striking down a plan for shoring- up the state’s finances. I suspect the rating agencies will view this as a negative and consider a downgrade on the state GO rating. I also expect you will see an increase in volume on this credit for the bid resulting in slightly cheaper values and yield op

Submitted by Tax Free Municipal Bonds/Fixed Income Specialists/DRL Group on October 28th, 2020

From a MUNI perspective and the elections coming up, Biden's tax proposals include capping the value of most deductions at a 28% rate. Any move to limit the tax breaks for MUNI bonds would face resistance from state and local government officials. The exemption boosts demand for bonds in the $3.9T market, lowering the interest that municipalities need to pay for financing

Submitted by Tax Free Municipal Bonds/Fixed Income Specialists/DRL Group on October 22nd, 2020

Submitted by Tax Free Municipal Bonds/Fixed Income Specialists/DRL Group on October 15th, 2020

State and local government lobbying groups are pressing Powell and Mnuchin to expand the scope of the Central Banks $500B Muni Credit Line and create a program to purchase bonds in the secondary. If this happens, it will be a significant uplift to our markets, similar to what we saw in the corporate market two months ago. It will be interesting to watch how it develops, big n

Submitted by Tax Free Municipal Bonds/Fixed Income Specialists/DRL Group on October 8th, 2020

Investors added $947MM to MUNI Bond Funds as of Wednesday compared to an outflow last week. Investors view increases in yields as a buying opportunity. I suspect this trend will continue as we move through the month, which will create more buyers in our markets.
The minutes from the FOMC meeting indicated that Central Bankers wanted to retain some flexibility concer

Submitted by Tax Free Municipal Bonds/Fixed Income Specialists/DRL Group on October 1st, 2020

House leaders postponed a vote on a Democrat only stimulus bill to give Mnuchin and Pelosi one more day to negotiate a compromise on a 4^th relief package. Pelosi met for about 90 minutes Wednesday without striking a deal.

Submitted by Tax Free Municipal Bonds/Fixed Income Specialists/DRL Group on September 24th, 2020

States and municipalities are headed toward a blowout year for bond sales, despite taking a few months off for the pandemic. So far, in 2020, local governments have sold $315B in long-term MUNI's.

Submitted by Tax Free Municipal Bonds/Fixed Income Specialists/DRL Group on September 16th, 2020

The MTA priced their new issue Tuesday night. Due in 2050, with a 4.00% coupon, the deal's final maturity was priced to yield 4.35% or 277 basis points above the benchmark index. The 2043 maturity is a 5% coupon, priced to yield 4.44%. MTA warned that it is focused on survival and will need to cut subway service by 40% unless the federal government provides $1

Submitted by Tax Free Municipal Bonds/Fixed Income Specialists/DRL Group on September 2nd, 2020

U.S. companies added fewer jobs than expected in August, suggesting the labor market rebound remains gradual, with employment well below pre-pandemic levels. Payrolls increased by 428,000 jobs, after an upwardly revised 212,000 in July, ADP data showed. That was less than the 1 million estimates.

Submitted by Tax Free Municipal Bonds/Fixed Income Specialists/DRL Group on August 27th, 2020

The FED indicated they would likely keep short-term rates near zero for five years or possibly more after adopting a new strategy for carrying out monetary policy. The new approach is likely to result in policymakers taking a more relaxed view towards inflation. Powell will provide an update on the FED's 1.5-year-old framework of its policies and practices when he speaks