Municipal bonds still have a role to play in financing infrastructure despite the billions unleashed by the new federal law and state and local governments that are brimming with cash. “There is of course the need to leverage this money in order to get projects done,” said Patrick Brett, managing director of municipal debt capital markets at Citigroup, during an online briefing on the deployment of the Infrastructure and Investment Jobs Act hosted by the Volcker Alliance and Penn Institute for Urban Research. The $1.2 trillion IIJA includes about $550 billion in new money, which will be spent over the next five years, roughly $100 billion a year, Brett said. Brett is also chair of the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board, but was not acting in that capacity.
Source: The Bond Buyer

Municipals were better Friday after catching a bid in the secondary, finally following U.S. Treasuries in a flight-to-quality, while still underperforming, keeping valuations above 100% on the 10- and 30-year. Equities pared back earlier losses to end mixed after the S&P 500 dipped into bear market territory earlier in the session. “The correlation between stocks and U.S. Treasuries is finally starting to normalize,” noted Barclays PLC in a weekly report. “Whereas the two were selling off or rebounding in sync amid higher inflation expectations and a hawkish Fed, over the past several weeks, the relationship has reverted to historical averages, with equities selling off in a risk-off environment while Treasuries rallied.”
Source: The Bond Buyer