Statistics reports

Municipal bond insurance may have finished 2018 down 18.1% from where it was the year before, but it outpaced the 23.5% volume dip the overall industry saw due to changes in tax legislation.

Development was down 50.4%, healthcare was off by 42.7%, and electric power declined 40.1%. The slides compared with an overall decline of 23.5% in total issuance.

Following a late-2017 rush to market of advance refundings and private-activity bonds in the run-up to the implementation of new tax legislation, supply in 2018 -- particularly refunding issuance -- suffered a steep decline.

Issuers in the Northeast sold $95.5 billion of municipal bonds in 2018, off 21.3% from 2017 with an even more pronounced fourth-quarter drop.

A state-by-state review of first half 2018 issuance in the Far West.

Issuance was down 27% in the region from the first half of 2017, and almost 30% in California, its largest market.

A state-by-state review of first half 2018 issuance in the Southeast.

The region's volume numbers were supported by favorable market conditions that drove several large gas prepay deals.

A state-by-state review of first half 2018 issuance in the Midwest.

Volume was off in eight of the region's 11 states in the wake of tax reform and the end of advance refundings.

A state-by-state review of first half 2018 issuance in the Southwest.

Bond volume in the region fell sharply in the first half of 2018, though one expert saw the 16% drop as better than anticipated.

A state-by-state review of first half 2018 issuance in the Northeast.

2018 first-half volume drops after tax reform.

Municipal bond volume is running 18.1% lower than last year’s historic level, in line with analyst expectations given the enormous impact the new tax legislation has had on the market.

Municipalities had less need for borrowing to bridge gaps in cash flow and therefore curtailed their issuance of notes

Issuance in these sectors all plummeted by 50% or more in the first half of 2018 in what was generally a weak first half for overall municipal issuance.

The par amount of insured debt decreased in the first half of 2017 but the percentage of bonds issued that carry insurance climbed.

Northeast municipal bond issuance sank 11.7% in the first half of 2018 compared to a year earlier, reflecting a national trend driven by federal tax changes.

A state-by-state review of 2017 municipal bond issuance issuance in the Far West.