The interest rate table above illustrates recent changes in a sample of MBIS “investment grade” yields. Every issuer’s credit is different. For rates that may be applicable to your municipality, contact our Municipal Bond Advisors, Larry Kleeman and Beth Warren.
The COVID-19 pandemic made it abundantly clear that central banks had the tools, and were willing to use them, to counter a dramatic fall-off in global economic activity. That economies and financial markets were able to find their footing so quickly after a few downright scary months in 2020 was in no small part because of monetary policy that kept bond markets liquid and borrowing terms super-easy. Now, as newly vaccinated individuals unleash their pent-up demand for goods and services on supplies that may initially struggle to keep up, questions naturally arise about resurgent inflation and interest rates, and what central banks will do next. Vanguard’s global chief economist, Joe Davis, recently wrote how the coming rises in inflation are unlikely to spiral out of control and can support a more promising environment for long-term portfolio returns. Similarly, in forthcoming research on the unwinding of loose monetary policy, we find that central bank policy rates and interest rates more broadly are likely to rise, but only modestly, in the next several years.
Source: Vanguard
Factors pushing U.S. inflation higher are likely to ebb at the start of 2022, said Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco President Mary Daly. “There’s just going to be a sequence of these temporary factors that are going to persist probably through the end of the year,” Daly said Friday in an interview with Bloomberg News. “They will start to roll off at the beginning of next year. How many of them will roll off or whether other bottlenecks will emerge as we start to get the economy back into shape and get back into recovery is hard to say.” Daly, a voter this year on monetary policy, said she expects inflation to remain elevated through the end of 2021 and that a variety of pressures are adding to price increases right now, including supply-chain constraints in shipping and semiconductor manufacturing and the so-called base effect of comparing this year’s prices to last year’s pandemic-induced declines.
Source: The Bond Buyer
Wichita State University archaeologist Don Blakeslee will direct a month-long field school in Arkansas City for 20 college-level archaeological students starting June 1. They include 13 Kansas students from Wichita State and other state schools, and seven from out of state. Assisting Blakeslee with the students during the field school will be Cowley College social studies instructor Meredith Mahoney and Crystal Dozier, assistant professor of anthropology at WSU.
Source: Cowley CourierTraveler
Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly is highlighting the state’s tourism and hospitality industry, the ninth-largest industry in the state. The industry brought in more than $86 million per year for the state in pre-pandemic days. Dan Murray, Kansas state director of National Federation of Independent Business, told The Center Square there is no doubt the pandemic dramatically impacted the tourism industry and tourism-related retailers. “From gift shops in Lindsborg to bars and restaurants in Manhattan on a football Saturday, small businesses saw a steep drop in foot traffic,” Murray said. “Many retailers and venues tried to overcome the limitations imposed by the government by offering virtual experiences and increased online presence.”
Source: Derby Informer | News
Officials anticipate moving into the final stages of finishing the Manhattan Development Code in mid-July. Chad Bunger, assistant director of community development for the city government, updated Riley County commissioners Thursday on the progress of the Manhattan Development Code during a joint meeting with Manhattan city commissioners. The main goal is to put all the zoning and design information into one document and make it easier for the public to understand. Officials have been working with Manhattan city commissioners on this document for the past few months. Manhattan Mayor Wynn Butler encouraged the county commissioners to review the code more in-depth before the city officially adopts it later this year.
Source: themercury.com
A nonprofit corporation wants to build a new 50,000-square-foot Museum of Art and Light next to the Flint Hills Discovery Center, seeking state sales tax revenue to build another downtown attraction. According to documents The Mercury obtained on Friday, the Museum of Art and Light Inc. has submitted an 86-page plan to the city government, positioning the project as Phase II to the Discovery Center’s Phase I. The corporation’s resident agent is Tracey DeBruyn of Manhattan. The plan describes the facility as a “state-of-the-art museum featuring immersive exhibits and interactive displays, creating a one-of-a-kind, hands-on, art and cultural attraction unmatched in the United States.” Reddi said it will likely include local, state, national and international art.
Source: themercury.com
Some of the water coming out of Topeka faucets currently tastes and smells bad, Topeka’s city government acknowledged Tuesday. Still, the tap water the city provides remains safe to drink and meets all drinking water standards set by the Environmental Protection Agency and the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, said Molly Hadfield, the city’s media relations coordinator. A flood of citizen complaints — about 40 over two days, according to Hadfield — prompted the city to put out a news release late Tuesday morning saying the city’s drinking water was experiencing “an issue with taste and odor.”
Source: CJonline.
With summer right around the corner, many are undoubtedly looking forward to going swimming, perhaps for the first time in over a year, since the COVID-19 pandemic shut down public pools. A chlorine shortage is threatening to throw cold water on such plans nationwide, however, and southeast Kansas is not immune. Brian Cussimanio, public works director for the City of Frontenac, said at Monday’s city council meeting that he ordered enough chlorine tablets to last through the summer three or four weeks ago, when he first heard they were becoming scarce.
Source: Pittsburg Morning Sun.
The extensive consideration that municipal finance tools are getting as Congress considers infrastructure legislation is producing growing optimism among public finance and local government groups. Lawmakers have voiced bipartisan and bicameral support for a revival of direct-pay Build America Bonds, reinstating tax-exempt advance refundings and raising the limit on tax-exempt bank-qualified debt to $30 million for nonprofit borrowers. The Biden administration is scheduled to weigh in on May 28 with its detailed tax proposals as part of its 2022 budget.
Source: The Bond Buyer
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