Lynne Funk is Executive Editor at The Bond Buyer. She leads markets coverage, is The Bond Buyer's Arizent Research Team liaison and contributes to Bond Buyer Conferences, Leaders and podcasts. Lynne previously worked on policy and markets at Municipal Market Analytics and in the Policy and Public Advocacy at the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association.
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Municipal benchmark yields were lowered by 60 to 80 basis points across the curve. Some trades pointed to nearly a 1% bump on short-term paper while state and local governments grapple with downgrades and revenue shortfalls.
By Lynne FunkMarch 25 -
The short end in particular was rebounding after Fed announced it would include variable rate demand obligations and short-term paper to its balance sheets.
By Lynne FunkMarch 24 -
The Fed today added in variable rate demand notes to other short-term municipal debt to a list of assets eligible to be used as collateral by financial institutions, which contributed to some stability in the secondary market.
By Lynne FunkMarch 23 -
A big New York State Empire Development Corp. private placement is likely to be followed by more until the municipal primary starts functioning again.
By Lynne FunkMarch 23 -
The municipal bond market again sold off as much as a half percentage point across the curve.
By Lynne FunkMarch 20 -
Lipper reported a whopping $12.2 billion of outflows from municipal bond funds. Out of that huge number, $5.3 billion were from high-yield funds. The $12 billion figure of outflows in one week equates to about 3% of annual municipal volume.
By Lynne FunkMarch 19 -
Benchmarks showed again that the short end was being hit hardest — 30 basis points up on the one-year and at least 10 up on the long end, but the entire curve was being cut drastically. The primary market was again at a standstill.
By Lynne FunkMarch 18 -
The municipal finance industry is dealing with minute-by-minute news of state-wide school closures, shuttered restaurants, curfews and canceled events. New issues are increasingly being put on the day-to-day calendar.
By Lynne FunkMarch 16 -
As COVID-19 wreaks havoc on global markets, munis try to keep pace.
By Lynne FunkMarch 9 -
Sowjana Sivaloganathan, who was municipal markets product manager at Bloomberg for the past 20 years, has joined Intercontinental Exchange’s ICE Data Services to focus on fixed-income product management.
By Lynne FunkMarch 9