2025 Methodist Ministries Network Annual Meeting 

HJ Sims is proud to be attending, sponsoring and speaking at the 2025 Methodist Ministries Network Annual Meeting. 

Speaking Sessions:

Date: May 6, 2025

Time: 10:15am-11:45am CT

*Aaron Rulnick, Managing Principal will be speaking on the topic below:

Session Title:

Board Governance: Best Practices to Maximize Governance Effectiveness

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Date: May 7, 2025

Time: 10:15am-11:45am CT

*Aaron Rulnick, Managing Principal, will be speaking on the topic below:

Session Title: A Call to Partner: Unlocking the Power of Innovative Collaboration

Attendees: Aaron Rulnick


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Curve Commentary: April 7, 2025

Volatility remains uncharacteristically high following last week’s tariff announcement and escalating pressure from the markets and politicians to cut rates.  However, last Friday, the Fed clearly stated their concerns regarding the potential for higher inflation and slower growth and has concluded it is too soon to determine the appropriate path for monetary policy.  As a result, market attentions are divided between concerns of stagflation and the prospects of the fed cutting rates leading to increased volatility as the market flips back and forth.  This past week has been challenging to manage from a trading perspective as the MMD municipal market index has seen strong moves in both directions with bumps of 18 to 24 bps along the yield curve last Thursday and Friday and cuts of 18 to 20 bps indicated for today.

In response to the tariff news, the municipal bond yield curve has responded with a 17 bps shift lower in a parallel fashion.  In contrast, the Treasury curve continues to flatten with the policy sensitive 2-3 year portion of the curve seeing the largest movement of around 18 bps.  Following the shift, municipal yields remain steep in the 8 to 11-year portion of the curve, with a slope of 33bps, and the 15 to 18-year portion of the curve, with a slope of 43 bps.  The 15-18 year portion of the municipal curve continues to offer a combination of relatively steep slope and meaningful yield, allowing investors to lock-in over 92% of the yield on the 30-year muni maturity and yields around 85% of equivalent Treasury bonds.

As a result of the small declines on the long-end of the Treasury curve and the relatively strong moves in the municipal curve, muni/Treasury ratios have changed significantly.  Ratios now lean more to the rich side than they did last week.  Over the past month, the 10-year ratio saw the largest change and has fallen almost 7% to back below 75%.  Over the past week, the 5-year ratio saw the largest change and has declined 3.6% to 70%.

Herbert J. Sims & Co. Inc. is a SEC registered broker-dealer, a member of FINRA, SIPC. The information contained herein has been prepared based upon publicly available sources believed to be reliable; however, HJ Sims does not warrant its completeness or accuracy and no independent verification has been made as to its accuracy or completeness. The information contained has been prepared and is distributed solely for informational purposes and is not a solicitation or an offer to buy or sell any security or instrument or to participate in any trading or investment strategy, and is subject to change without notice. All investments include risks. Nothing in this message or report constitutes or should be construed to be accounting, tax, investment or legal advice.

The 22nd Annual HJ Sims Late Winter Conference

Our 22nd Annual HJ Sims Late Winter Conference examined trends and developments critical to the success of senior living communities and charter school facilities. An extensive and thoughtful agenda was compiled to address financing methods and operating strategies that can help alleviate existing challenges and encourage continued growth in the non-profit and proprietary sectors of our industry. Throughout the conference, we delivered a dynamic group of speakers and experts committed to sharing thought-provoking views and providing profound insight.

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Conference FEEDBACK SURVEY

Help us make the next Late Winter Conference even more successful by completing our feedback survey. We very much appreciate your input.

Please note that you must complete the survey to receive your educational credits certificate. If you did not receive our survey, please contact Catherine Vancho at [email protected]

Photos

View the many beautiful photos from our conference in the galleries below. Click on each album to see all of the photos from the event.

Save the Date

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The 23rd Annual HJ Sims Annual Conference will be held February 24th-26th, 2026 at the Marriott Sanibel Harbour Resort & Spa in Fort Myers, FL. Stay tuned for more information soon. We can’t wait to see you there!

For more information, please contact Kat Dymond.

2025 AJAS Annual Conference

HJ Sims is proud to be attending, sponsoring and speaking at the 2025 AJAS Annual Conference. 

Stop by to see us at Booth 400.

Aaron Rulnick, Managing Principal, will be presenting on the topic below:

Presentation Title: Creating an Environment for Board Consensus to Navigate a Path from Crisis to Sustainability
Format: Breakout session; 60-minute presentation (including Q & A)
Date and Time: March 31, 2025 3:30 pm
Location: InterContinental 

Attendees: Aaron Rulnick

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