Page 10 - Ramirez Co News Today

Deep-in-the-red municipal returns are not helping assuage investor concerns, creating a negative feedback loop that has yet to see a pause.

Outflows continue with the Investment Company Institute reporting $6.167 billion pulled from muni bond mutual funds in the week ending May 4, up from $5.371 billion of outflows in the previous week. 

Bausch + Lomb Corp., a subsidiary of Bausch Health Co. Inc., announced May 5 the pricing of its initial public offering of 35 million common shares at $18 per share, which is below the estimated IPO price of between $21 and $24, according to its April 28 filing with the SEC.

The state's Local Government Commission approved more than $1.5 billion in bond and financing agreements, including more than $600 million for the airports.

State Treasurer Fiona Ma announced the results of a $3 billion sale of University of California Medical Center Pooled Revenue bonds.

The significant cheapening of municipals in recent weeks continues to create headwinds for the overall tax-exempt market on a daily basis.

The Investment Company Institute reported investors pulled $7.2 billion from municipal bond mutual funds, the largest figure since the outlier months of March 2020 when investors yanked $24 billion in two weeks.

Investors pulled more from municipal bond mutual funds last week, with Refinitiv Lipper reporting $4.106 billion of outflows, bring the total to $22.3 billion of outflows year-to-date.

Like last week, supply for the new-calendar issuance is light at $4.804 billion with $3.182 billion of negotiated deals and $1.622 billion of competitive loans.

Investors pulled more from municipal bond mutual funds in the latest week, with Refinitiv Lipper reporting $3.247 billion of outflows, of that $1 billion was high-yield. ETFs are still seeing inflows.