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“The potential impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the City cannot be quantified at this time, but the continued outbreak of COVID-19 could have an adverse effect on the City’s operations and financial condition.” This disclosure, or something like it, is now regularly included in documentation by municipal issuers. While
How We Got Here In 2009, some said interest rates had nowhere to go but up. Well, Treasury yields found a way to continue to go down and stay down. The Fed took seven years to increase the funds rate by a quarter point at the end of 2015, then
Over the past few years, the municipal securities market has experienced a growing number of municipal issuers that have met their borrowing needs by going directly to investors to access capital. This practice is commonly referred to as a “private placement.” There are many reasons why an issuer may elect
By Dale Sheller and Matt Harris As summer winds down, the same goes for the Payroll Protection Program (PPP) as August 8 was the final day for application. This critical but controversial component of the $2 trillion CARES ACT passed in March this year created over $525 billion in loans
With all the distractions and distracting challenges faced this year by the nation’s community bankers, it’s easy to understand how some may have lost track of an approaching deadline that could have significant consequences for their institutions and their customers. Unless something changes, and the authorities have been pretty clear
Where We Are Today In an emergency Sunday meeting on March 15, 2020, the Federal Reserve announced it was dropping its benchmark interest rate to zero and launched a new round of open-ended quantitative easing. The move was a direct response to the coronavirus outbreak, which had disrupted economic activity
2020 will certainly be remembered as the year Covid-19 changed the world as we know it. Likewise, the associated “Lockdown Recession” is already changing the way many banks manage their balance sheets. With loan demand dropping in most parts of the country and stimulus deposits adding to already bloated cash
The world has changed. The nation’s economic lockdown has given previously confident consumers a new and cautious attitude of frugality. The propensity to borrow and spend has turned into an inclination to deleverage and save. Once prosperous businesses struggle to stay afloat as society and culture adjust to a new,
2020 will certainly be remembered as the year Covid-19 changed the world as we know it. Likewise, the associated “Lockdown Recession” is already changing the way many credit union leaders manage their balance sheets. With loan demand dropping in most parts of the country and stimulus deposits adding to already
The Federal Reserve just announced a new Municipal Lending Facility targeted to specific state and local governments. The facility will buy up to $500 billion of short-term notes directly from states and local governments. Only cities with a population of at least one million residents and counties with a population
The municipal securities market is going through unprecedented volatility amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. The initial “flight-to-quality” into U.S. Treasuries in early March also included a rally in the municipal sector that drove yields down to all-time lows. The 10yr AAA MMD benchmark index reached just 78 basis points on March
Concerns of an economic downturn escalate as the rapid spread of COVID-19 necessitates widespread event cancellations, business and school closures, and quarantines. These actions have undoubtedly caused economic activity to decline, and we’ve already seen some consequences as equity returns have plummeted. Meanwhile, plunging oil prices are leading to lower
Fate Has Earned Its Reputation 2019 may best be remembered as the year when things that weren’t supposed to happen, happened anyway. The world’s major economies weren’t supposed to have spiraled downwards, but they did. Bond yields were not supposed to have fallen, but that’s what happens when growth decelerates.
Another year in the books and another great year for the banking industry. Profits were strong, but there are always concerns on the horizon. Regulators who have been on the job for more than ten years haven’t forgotten the most recent financial crisis and the problems and bank failures that
A Quick Recap and Key Points to Ponder Where We’ve Been: It’s fair to say that 2019 was quite a transition year for Fed policy, interest rates, and the bond market. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury Note, after reaching an eight-year high of 3.24% in November of 2018,
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