by Gayl Mileszko

NO BEAR HUGS PERMITTED, NO BEARS IN SIGHT

The Māori are the indigenous eastern Polynesian people of mainland New Zealand who came to the islands by canoe in a planned migration in the early 14th century. They developed a unique culture and language which evolved again in the late 18th century with the arrival of European settlers with written words, muskets, western agricultural methods, missionaries, smallpox and measles. Tensions between the cultures inevitably led to hostilities over time, most notably involving the sale of ancestral land. The ensuing social upheaval as well as the epidemics took a terrible toll on the Māori population; it took a century before protests for social justice and political activism stirred a significant revival movement, and it was not until 1987 that Māori was made an official language. Today, this ethnic group comprises about 17% of the country’s population but less than 200,000 still speak one of the three main dialects.

The word māori means “normal”, “natural” or “ordinary” and is said to distinguish us ordinary mortal human beings from the deities and spirits. In the Māori creation story, it was the forest god Tane who breathed life into the first woman. The story is kept alive to this day in the traditional Māori greeting which involves pressing noses together and touching foreheads in a practice called hongi. With this very personal connection, the ha (breath of life) is exchanged in a symbolic show of unity. COVID-19 has, of course, put an end to this centuries-old practice. From Auckland to Paris, Wuhan to Moscow, Toronto to Buenos Aires, non-verbal greetings from hongi to handshakes, and hugs to double cheek-kisses, once so common in our daily interactions with others are taboo under social distancing public health guidelines. What is left to us is only the awkward elbow bump, the tapping of feet, a wistful wave or spiritless salute from a distance or a two-dimensional smile on a flat screen.

We have lost a lot this past year – lives, jobs, businesses, homes, cars, freedoms, a sense of control, the sense of human touch. Neuroscientists agree that human contact is vital to health, wellness and happiness. There is a highly complex system of nerves, sensors and receptors that link our skin and brain to the people in our environment, and those deprived of a loving touch can develop severe psychological, intellectual and physical health issues. Some studies show that the pleasantness of touch is actually enhanced with age. That makes it all the more sad that senior citizens are among the most touch-deprived throughout this pandemic as so many outside of senior living communities have been self-isolating for nearly eleven months now.

The inability to shake hands, hold hands, slap backs, half hug, bear hug, huddle, and read full facial expressions has also clearly taken a toll on our politicians, elder and young alike, in Washington. While already strained by partisan divides that have been widening for 25 years, COVID guidelines have upended the tried and true methods for building coalitions, gathering for markups, conferring in cloakrooms, collecting intelligence over cocktails, commanding respect in committee hearings, enacting important legislation. Longstanding rules governing language and conduct have been waived; few leaders maintain the gold standard of civil discourse. Instead of mandates for change, recent elections have only made the extremes more apparent and inflexibility the charge. The latest Monmouth University poll finds that one-third of Americans and fully 72% of Republicans still believe that President Biden is in only office due to voter fraud. Gallup finds that 82% of Americans disapprove of the way Congress is handling its job, just off the 45-year low of 86% in 2011. The percentage of Americans citing national division and lack of unity as our top problem is the highest in Gallup’s seven decades of asking this question, dating back to 1939.

There are no bear hugs being given on the floors of any of the stock, futures, commodities, or other exchanges these days. It is not because of our civic polarization but because there are no bears. Few if any of the usual correlations between U.S. markets apply, and stocks and bonds market remains in rally mode for the twelfth consecutive year since the Great Recession, despite the Pandemic. With only a few more trading days left in this first month, the Dow at 30,960 is up nearly 10% from where it stood one year ago. The S&P at 3,855 has gained nearly 20%, the Russell 2000 at 2,163 is up more than 34% and the Nasdaq at 13,635 has increased a staggering 49%. Oil prices are up over 2% to $52.77 and gold nearly 17% to $1,858. Bitcoin at $33,770 is worth 264% more. Call-option buying on indices as well as single stocks has exploded with volumes reportedly running 20% higher than last summer. Treasury yields, despite one record auction after another to fund unprecedented stimulus, are down across the board year-over-year: the 2-year has plummeted 120 basis points year over year to 0.11%; the 10-year fell 48 basis points to 1.02% and the 30-year at 1.79% is 20 basis points lower. Tax-exempt AAA municipals have also rallied: the 2-year at 0.13% is down 70 basis points, the 10-year at 0.77% has fallen 38 basis points and the 30-year at 1.44% has decreased 36 basis points.

The Federal Open Market Committee met this week and markets once again expected reassuring words of long-term accommodation and growth on the horizon. Stock and bond investors continue to assume that COVID case counts and deaths decline with the increase in vaccinations, and we all watch and cheer the falling numbers along with the rest of the country. Economic data remains mixed, with housing strong, confidence holding, manufacturing up and some services down. With the change of party control in Washington, policies are already taking some new directions. Tax and spending measures and regulations always require more time than hoped for — or feared — but executive orders this first week will soon impact health care, energy, student loans, immigration, travel, collective bargaining, privately run prisons, certain international agreements and government procurement.

In the trade press and among the popular pundits, we are aware of some irrational exuberance and extreme fear, uncertainty and paralysis. There are indeed warning signs of bubbles in some sectors. We all know that some in the industry encourage senseless speculation based on stimulus continuing ad infinitum, many others seriously worry about inflation, and we are all frustrated by the lack of yield and difficulties in trying to hedge portfolios with all correlations so askew. For now, as one trader put it, “high yield is the paper du jour”. In bonds, high yield munis and corporate convertibles are the stars so far. We encourage our readers as always to connect and remain in close contact with your HJ Sim representatives for perspective, guidance and recommendations for your portfolio based upon your guidelines, needs, and risk tolerances.

by Gayl Mileszko

In Act 3, Scene 1 of the Shakespeare play, Prince Hamlet asked, “To be or not to be?” bemoaning the pain and unfairness of life amid a sea of troubles, but acknowledging that the alternative might be worse. Nine months into our current global calamity, enduring the “whips and scorns” of this pandemic, so many of us have weighed our chances of contracting and surviving or spreading the coronavirus against chosen behaviors. In the United Kingdom as well as the United States, some of our most recent choices involve taking one or more of the emergency use authorized vaccines. Here, the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 rollout has been underway for about a month now and 31.1 million doses have been distributed. States are individually responsible for implementing programs but priority has been given across the board to health care workers and those in long term care facilities. CVS and Walgreens are critical to the plan and they aim to make at least initial visits to nearly all nursing homes by February. Some states are already making inoculations available to those over age 65 lest we “lose the name of Action” or momentum in our struggle. 

The American Health Care Association reports that about 45% of long term care workers have already been vaccinated. But surveys indicate that 29% of those who work in health care delivery settings said they would probably not or definitely not take the vaccine even if it were free and deemed safe by scientists. Hesitancy mirrors that of the general public where as many as 40% plan to wait and see or pass for now due to worries about the lack of long-term studies on side effects compounded by the need to have two doses, concerns over the type of antigen itself or misinformation about genetic impacts that messenger RNA vaccines could have, general mistrust of government and perceived profits being made by the pharmaceutical companies, and concerns about duration and effectiveness against the new and more contagious variants of the virus that have begun spreading. Refusal rates this high can certainly jeopardize our ability to achieve what many believe is the critical need: population immunity.

Unfortunately, no one is expecting the pandemic to subside by this spring. There is talk and hope of having most American citizens vaccinated by the third quarter of this year. The new administration proposes additional stimulus to speed up the testing and vaccination process. Health care providers are offering an array of incentives to employees and requirements for prospects. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in December released guidance stating that employers can require proof of COVID-19 vaccination from employees — with some exceptions. Dialogue in the coming months will include various “immunity passport” initiatives affecting all of us that may be highly controversial but could prove to be a first critical step in restoring a return to air travel, hotel stays, mass transit, restaurant dining, tourism, conventions, sporting events, commercial real estate, and the entire continuum of senior care from independent living to assisted living to memory care and skilled nursing.

Some parts of the economy are being permanently altered by SARS-CoV-2 as is trust in certain institutions, notably including the media. At the federal, state, community, and business/institution levels, it is extremely challenging to communicate effectively with stakeholders who have so many diverse political, legal, medical, religious, investment, and historical views. Skepticism is rampant. One recent survey by communications firm Edelman found that we not only have a pandemic but an “infodemic,” an era of information bankruptcy and poor “information hygiene”. Communications from “my employer” have now become the most trusted source of information at 61%. CEO’s must take this message to heart and redouble efforts to be transparent and to safeguard information and product quality as well as to protect and upskill workers and inform and engage their communities and investors of these efforts.

Quarterly corporate earnings reports for the most recent period have just began and analysts are scouring the last three months of performance while peppering leadership with questions on plans and forecasts for the start of 2021. Traders and investors are also carefully listening to the statements and testimony from key incoming members of the Biden Administration on the many new policy proposals and their potential market impacts. Much has not yet been “baked in” to evaluations and certain markets as the shift in Congressional leadership is still being assessed. 

Most U.S. markets nevertheless remain on fire going on three weeks into the new year, buoyed by our central bank’s policy of unprecedented accommodation for the foreseeable future. This week’s investment grade corporate new issuance is again expected to exceed $25 billion. So far this year $22 billion of high yield corporate bonds have priced and this could be the busiest months on record for this sector. Initial public offerings proceed apace. Record inflows into high yield municipal bond funds are a perfect reflection of the ongoing demand from individuals for some tax-exempt “oomph” in portfolios that may otherwise be producing nothing more than negative real returns. 

Income investors are advised to contact their HJ Sims representatives for recommendations of individual bonds tailored to their risk and capital needs profiles. The general muni market, as reflected in the ICE BoAML Index is up 0.04% this year while the HY muni index has gained 1.03%. High yield corporates are up 0.37%, and convertible bonds are returning a whopping 4.84%, primarily driven by gains in TESLA. U.S Treasuries, by comparison are down 1.15%,

We live amid a raging pandemic but the season has changed and we know that many other changes lie ahead. In many ways, we have not been down this path before. A new president is being inaugurated while an article of impeachment is pending against the former president. We have an unusually close relationship between the incumbent Chair of the Federal Reserve and his predecessor, the incoming Treasury Secretary. The central bank has the greatest single impact on markets and may use yield curve control, more liquidity support, potentially set a negative interest rate policy or exploring the use of digital currency. Major policy reversals are possible, impacting everything from taxes to health care, to energy and the environment, to immigration and corporate regulation. We may face inflation, a weakening dollar, and more horse trading than usual, given the thin margins in both the House and the Senate. We at HJ Sims wish godspeed to all assuming new public office and working to speed a recovery in each and every sector while supporting our essential services and entrepreneurs and the promising economic future ahead. As Shakespeare wrote in another famous play: “Come, love and health to all. [We] drink to the general joy of the whole table.”

by Gayl Mileszko

There is only a week to go until the Inauguration of our 46th President. The weather forecast for January 20 is for a partly cloudy day with temperatures in the mid-40s. But other conditions are not so favorable for this time of year and for these traditional American quadrennial ceremonies in which we all ask for God to bless America. The pandemic has already nixed most of the festivities that have accompanied the swearing-in since 1805, including celebratory inaugural balls and parades. But now in the wake of the storming of the U.S. Capitol on January 6, law enforcement is on the highest possible alert. The FBI is warning about armed protests at all 50 state capitals in the days leading up to the recitation of the oath of office by the Chief Justice. Fifteen thousand National Guard troops are being deployed to the historic grounds that lay between Independence and Constitution Avenues, the People’s House.

Two hundred thirty miles away on Wall Street, markets have barely flinched over these events. Many months ago, markets baked in assumptions of a peaceful transition of power. Investors and traders, as good at counting votes as any party whip, were unfazed when the House of Representatives approved articles of impeachment against the 45th President on December 18, 2019. They are again unfazed by this Wednesday’s vote in the south end of the Capitol. Dozens of major U.S. companies have responded with pronouncements that they are suspending political donations to some or all Members in the upper and lower chambers. Insiders understand that these bans are largely toothless as no one is fundraising at this part in the cycle with more than 660 days to go to the next election. Time and time again, we find that a lot not only can but does change in two years.

Since the start of the year, not a lot has changed in the financial markets. Prices on most assets are still extremely elevated, and rallies continue across most sectors on the expectation that additional fiscal stimulus will speed up our economic recovery. Although bonds have slightly weakened since the Georgia elections turned Washington “light blue”, as pundits label the razor thin Democrat majority in D.C., yields remain in historically low ranges. With expectations for even heavier federal spending. additional borrowing, and higher taxes, intermediate and long U.S. Treasury yields have jumped by about 24 basis points. This moved the 10-year past a 1% touchstone, but bear in mind that this yield exceeded 3.80% ten years ago. The 10-year yield is at 1.14% and the 30-year at 1.88%. The 2-year is relatively unchanged at 0.14% so far in 2021. It goes without saying that all these yields are producing negative real returns for investors.

The prices of all bonds are linked in some manner to Treasuries. So as government prices have dipped, BAA Corporate 10-year benchmark yields have risen by about 17 basis points to 2.82%. These rates nevertheless remain at historic lows, so corporate borrowers are still lining up for market entry. And both investment grade and high yield corporate bond issues cannot come fast enough to satisfy domestic and foreign demand. High yield sales total $13.2 billion so far this month with orders exceeding offers by more than three times, while investment grade issuance is already at $55.6 billion with recent trades more than 2.4 times covered. Corporates have clearly been buoyed by stock prices. At this writing, the Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq indices are each up about 1.2% this year while the Russell 200 is up nearly 6%. Oil is up more than 7%, but gold prices have fallen more than 2% and silver prices are off by nearly 5%. Among digital currencies, Bitcoin has been extremely volatile but is up nearly 15% in 2021.

Municipal bond yields have also inched higher since the start of the year, but Bloomberg is reporting that valuations are currently at record highs. The ratio of top-rated tax-exempt yields to U.S. Treasuries at 67% is the lowest since 2001, a huge drop from where it stood ten months ago at 215%. The 2-year AAA rated general obligation bond MMD benchmark at 0.15% is largely unchanged from last month. The 10-year and 30-year benchmarks have added 7 basis points and stand at 0.78% and 1.46%, respectively. Imagine that: top rated borrowers are still getting rates of under 1.50% for maturities in 2050! These are fantasy conditions still prevailing for most non-profit borrowers. For lower-rated and non-rated sectors, there are few deals so far this year to help us gauge the market. The Illinois Finance Authority brought a $26.6 million non-rated deal for the McKinley Foundation with a single 35-year maturity priced at par to yield 5.125%. The Wisconsin Public Finance Authority sold $6 million of non-rated bonds for St. Francis College in Brooklyn at par to yield 5.50% in 2024.

Investors cannot source enough tax-exempt product as many state, local and non-profit borrowers are taking advantage of low rates prevailing in the taxable and corporate bond markets to refinance higher coupon bonds. The 115th Congress removed the ability of tax-exempt borrowers to refund most long-term debt at tax-exempt rates, but many in the muni market hope that the 116th Congress will appreciate the urgent pleas from non-profits who are lobbying to restore the authorization and allow them to refinance outstanding debt at these extremely low rates. Record levels of taxable issuance would likely decline if, as some predict, tax reform legislation is enacted later this year or next with a provision restoring the exemption. This would significantly increase the supply of traditional munis for those looking to offset potentially higher individual tax rates.

We at HJ Sims are looking forward to this new year and cheer those states with the safest, most rapid and successful vaccine rollouts for health care workers, long term care residents and those greatest at risk of contracting the coronavirus. Along with our investors, we simultaneously root for those entrepreneurs and manufacturers of cost-effective air and surface cleaning and filtration technologies. While we share the concerns of millions over the civil unrest, the key but often controversial role of social media, the prospect of inflation, the status of mortgage, rent, student loan and other delinquencies, our growing federal and state debts and deficits, and the unprecedented year-long financial stress on most every non-profit and for-profit enterprise, we pause to count our many blessings and pledge to make our voices heard even louder this year.

For more than 85 years, we have worked with colleagues in our industry to improve market access for our borrowers, market intelligence for our investors, and public understanding of the key role that the municipal market has in facilitating essential purpose project financings. We are proud of our role in helping to originate the quintessential social good bonds and encourage our readers to join us in working collaboratively to provide and protect the safest living and learning options for our seniors, our disabled, and our young going forward. Please contact your HJ Sims representative to share your thoughts on how we can collectively enhance our advocacy on behalf of our country’s greatest needs in 2021.

by Gayl Mileszko

Speed is of the essence when it comes to delivering vaccines, election outcomes and aid to unemployed workers and locked down businesses. There are ways to measure baseball’s fastballs, touchdown sprints, and high-frequency trading executions. But some gauges can be a bit tricky. The speed of the Earth’s rotation, for example, varies constantly due to the motion of its molten core, oceans and atmosphere, as well as the impact of celestial bodies like our moon. Tides and the change in distance between the Earth and the moon all make for daily variations in the speed the planet rotates on its axis; even heavy mountaintop snow that melts in summertime can cause a shift. Given all the unprecedented events of 2020 around the world, it should come as no surprise that our Earth has literally been spinning unusually quickly of late. In fact, the shortest day on record was July 19, when the planet completed its rotation in 1.4602 milliseconds less than usual. Records were broken 28 times last year and the Earth in 2021 looks to be moving at an average daily pace that is 0.5 milliseconds faster than the standard 24 hours.

In recent decades, the Earth’s average rotational speed had been consistently decreasing. Scientists at the Paris-based International Earth Rotation Service who monitor the planet’s rotation inform countries six months in advance when “leap seconds” need to be added to align with solar time.  And, since the 1970s, official timekeepers have made 27 adjustments to keep atomic clocks in sync with the slowing planet. Most recently this occurred on New Year’s Eve in 2016. Now, for the first time on record, a negative leap second may be needed. The World Radiocommunication Conference members will make the decision when they next meet in 2023.

A more common standard measure of time, the Gregorian calendar, has been in use since 1582 and has just flipped into 2021. But for some, the new year began on December 14 when the first health care workers and nursing home residents were administered the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine. Four days later, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorized a second vaccine from Moderna for emergency use. The two mRNA vaccines have shown remarkable effectiveness of about 95% in preventing COVID-19 disease in adults when given in two doses at 21 days and 28 day intervals, respectively. At this writing, 4.56 million Americans have received injections. All of us on Main Street and Wall Street are closely monitoring the rollout of this historic mass vaccination program, fervently hoping that it puts an end to the illness and loss suffered here and around the world.

Although there is federal guidance and $8 billion of federal funds, states are responsible for running the COVID-19 vaccination campaigns and prioritizing residents. There have been issues with public information as well as with storage, handling and administration of the doses. There is also an issue of public confidence. Not everyone is anxious to get the vaccine. Many have adopted a wait-and-see approach. The sheer number of healthcare workers and long term care residents at the head of the line means that there will be many months before others become eligible. Some have objections on religious grounds. More than 20.8 million Americans have already had the coronavirus; those who have recovered may believe that they have some level of immunity. Some cite concern over the speed with which the vaccines were developed and are worried about potential side effects. Those who look in the rearview mirror can find mis-steps on the part of the federal, state and local officials and may distrust the ability of elected and unelected government workers to handle anything having to do with the pandemic. Some find the matter political, others are skeptical of the big pharmaceutical companies who are benefiting financially from the rush to market. For those with cognitive issues, consent procedures can prove vexing.

As the majority await evidence of the effectiveness and safety of the vaccines, entrepreneurs are hard at work on other approaches. Some nursing homes, hospitals, restaurants and cruise ships are installing air purifying systems using needlepoint bipolar ionization technology to disrupt surface proteins of viruses and bacteria, and de-activate harmful pathogens. Hotels, schools and offices are installing ultraviolet light emitting diodes in heating and cooling systems to disinfect surfaces, ventilation and water systems. These technologies, or others yet to come, may also help to generate public confidence and resurrect businesses and institutions severely damaged by the pandemic and related lockdown policies.

Long-term care facilities have experienced significant drops in occupancy as a result of the deadly toll that the coronavirus has taken on the frail elderly population.  Some 40% of all reported COVID-19 deaths are said to have occurred in nursing homes. Rebuilding public confidence in the safety of these care communities is critical to the industry and will, in many cases, require considerable time and plenty of documentation and testimonials. Providers are exploring the expanded use of infection preventionists, recommending changes to Medicaid reimbursement rates to boost the salaries of their health and personal care workers, and working to develop improved regulatory reporting procedures.

While nursing homes, assisted living, and memory care facilities may take longer to return to pre-coronavirus levels, other battered sectors of the economy are primed to reverse if not soar once herd immunity appears imminent, federal and state efforts meet with widespread support, and vaccines and technologies are proven successful.  When does that happen? There is a colloquial expression attributed to Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart: “I know it when I see it” that described his threshold test for obscenity. This is the type of test we will apply to determine in our own non- epidemiological ways when the end to this hideous pandemic is near. It will involve a combination of federal and state pronouncements, toned down and redirected media coverage, personal anecdotal experience, and the emergence of green shoots in our respective neighborhoods. 

Industries most impacted by the pandemic stand to gain the most in a world about to be restored to something akin to the 2019 version of “normal”. In the interim, and for the foreseeable future, rallies are unlikely to abate in markets for industries proven essential to day-to-day, stay-at-home life in the past year:  grocery stores, pharmacies, home improvement, on-line retail sites with rapid home delivery service contracts, information technology, household durables, fast food restaurants, agriculture, farm equipment, personal and health care supplies, key ports serving cargo ships, vacation rentals, recreational vehicles, golf-related products, testing services, cybersecurity, defense and other key domestic manufacturing, utilities, water and sewer, solid waste, affordable housing, technical schools, alcohol and tobacco.

Investors with cash and foresight will look to position portfolios for a post-COVID-19 economy. We will look to capitalize on the slow but sure rebound in oil and gas exploration and storage, steel, energy equipment and services, larger hospital systems, health care technology, banks, life and health insurance, property and casualty insurance, and toll roads with steady commercial traffic. In addition, steady reversals over time should occur in homebuilding, automobiles, aerospace, public colleges and universities. Among the sectors likely to take the longest to improve as there have been major and perhaps irreversible shifts in remote work and recreational choices. Our lives have changed in major ways since March and therefore partial rebounds will likely lag for airlines, hotels and resorts, rental cars, textiles and apparel, beauty products, mass transit, parking, casinos, gyms, cinemas and theaters, convention and sports venues, finer dining restaurants, jails, small private colleges, student housing, and commercial real estate.

Scrutinizing the relative differences in fundamentals including governance, geography, balance sheets, and COVID-19 case and death statistics, will take time but will pay off for well-advised investors. Regular and transparent reporting by for-profit and non-profit entities is required. Few of the old precedents apply; last year brought dozens and dozens of new pre-packaged bankruptcy cases with unexpected outcomes for senior bondholders having less than majority votes.  Changing consumer preferences and potential new regulations are bound to adversely impact holdings, including certain media. Population shifts are underway. Some entities have significantly diluted equity and incurred strangling debt loads. Governments at every level will need to re-prioritize budgets given the costs of debt service and urgent social and infrastructure needs. Underfunded pensions and other post-employment benefits may threaten future general obligation bond debt service as well as interest and principal on state and local revenue bonds with weak security protections.

For bondholders, 2020 was a year in which fixed income was largely redefined as lacking income.  Top-rated 30-year yields dipped well below 1.40% for tax-exempts and 3% for corporates. Even below investment grade and non-rated municipal and corporate securities sold at premium prices producing yields well below 5%.  The chart below depicts 12 months of declining yields and illustrates the decade long decline in benchmark bond yields. It also reflects the significant volatility and gains in the stock and commodity markets, and the growing acceptance and risky participation in digital cryptocurrency markets.

by Gayl Mileszko

The holidays are upon us so this is the last full trading week of December and our last market commentary of 2020. We sigh because this year on the trading desks there is none of the usual cheerful talk about travel plans, baby gifts, and family gatherings. In fact, the trading desks are vacant as they have been for the last 10 months. Like others in so many industries, our fixed income traders have been hard at work in home offices in New Jersey, Massachusetts, Florida, North Carolina and Virginia, communicating by Skype and cell phone, email and Bloomberg, Webex and landlines for most of the year. Like our banking, sales, and operations teams in Connecticut, Texas, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Illinois, Minnesota, California and Puerto Rico, they have juggled busy work and home lives without missing a beat in serving our valued clients thanks to their professionalism and our marvelous tech staff. And, like the rest of us, they are united in their desire for the next two weeks to be joyful and peaceful ones, grateful for the opportunity to count blessings with loved ones and count down to a brand new year, a turnaround year for our economy and the people, businesses, schools, institutions so badly hurt by the pandemic.

In Washington, these are the final days of the 116th Congress, a lame duck session. As is typical for this time of year, lawmakers are late in trying to hammer out the details of the $1.4 trillion omnibus government spending bill for the fiscal year that began on October 1. They are also moving toward an agreement on that frustratingly elusive second stimulus to bring relief and some measure of comfort to small businesses and non-profits, the unemployed, those in health care and education, and all in need of vaccinations. Main Streets are quiet, pedestrians and decorations are sparse. Households are advised to limit holiday celebrations, order gifts on-line, reinvent caroling, and Zoom with Santa. It is only on Wall Street where things jingle as the Fed-fabricated Santa Claus rally which began in late March is still underway.

This has been a year like no other. The world experienced its first deliberate policy-induced recession in a concerted effort to suppress the spread of a virus. Governments took control over almost every aspect of life and corner of the world. There have been tragic losses. As the brightest minds, the largest dollars, and highest priorities have been devoted to finding treatments and vaccines, negative rates continue to dominate global markets, and government borrowing has risen to mind-numbing levels. But U.S. stocks and bonds have had a wonderful life. The usual correlations are askew and returns disconnected from the reality experienced by billions around the globe. Central banks have opened wide all the money spigots. Their massive asset purchases have created some artificial markets. The Bank of Japan, for example, has become that country’s largest single owner of equities. Here, the target federal funds rate was lowered from the target of 1.50-1.75% at the start of the year to 0.00-0.25% on March 16 and appears likely to remain in that range for several more years. Our Fed has been buying $80 billion a month in Treasuries and $40 billion in mortgage securities since June. Within a very short period, they created and ran 11 new funding, credit, liquidity and loan facilities supporting everything from commercial paper to corporate and municipal bonds to foreign monetary authorities. As a result, market confidence has soared and new issuance and performance records have been set and re-set.

At this writing, the Dow has risen more than 4.6% this year to surpass 30.000. The S&P 500 is up nearly 13% to 3,647. The Russell 2000 has gained almost 15% and stands at 1,913. The Nasdaq has been the biggest winner at 12,440 with gains of more than 38%. More than $140 billion has been raised in nearly 400 initial public offerings this year, exceeding the last full-year high in 1999 during the dot-com boom. Volatility has flared and abated throughout 2020 on lockdown, vaccine, election, Fed, and stimulus news. The VIX currently stands at 24.72 after starting the year at 13.78 and hitting a high of 82.69 on March 16. In the commodity markets, oil prices have fallen 23% from early January but have now steadied in the $47 range after sinking to the unheard of negative $37.63 on April 20. Gold prices are up 20% this year to $1,828 but rose as high as $2,060 on August 6. Bitcoin is among the year’s biggest winners, having advanced 167% to $19,135.

In the bond markets, debt issuance has surpassed expectations and smashed records. With interest rates at historic lows and liquidity needs at all-time highs, issuance has soared. Investment grade companies have sold about $1.7 trillion in the primary market, a new record. High yield corporate debt sales have exceeded $428 billion. Municipal bond issuance at roughly $425 billion will likely exceed the records set in 2007 and 2016. In the global flight to safety, investor demand for short Treasuries brought yields to new lows. When adjusted for inflation, many yields turned negative. The 3-month Treasury yield stands at 0.08%. The 2-year yield has plunged 93% from 1.56% to 0.11%. The 10-year Treasury yield at 0.89% has been cut in half and since the start of the year. A new 20-year Treasury bond began trading on May 21 and currently yields 1.47%. And the 30-year yield is down 32% from 2.38% to 1.62%. In the corporate bond market, 10-year BAA rated bond yields have fallen 100 basis points to 2.70%. In the tax-exempt space, mutual funds have seen inflows of $31.1 billion and muni ETF’s have taken in $13.1 billion. AAA muni benchmarks have all toppled more than 70 basis points. The 2-year MMD has fallen by 86% to 0.14%, the 10-year is down 51% to 0.70, and the 30-year at 1.38% is 34% lower than where it began the year at 2.09%.

Years from now, when rates eventually rise, we look back and marvel at the low rates available to borrowers and the miniscule yields confounding investors from households to mutual funds, life insurers, banks and foreign buyers. Last week, the Puerto Rico Aqueduct and Sewer Authority was able to sell $1.37 billion of non-rated bonds at a premium to yield 4.15% in 2047. New York’s JFK International Airport sold BBB rated bonds for the Terminal 4 project yielding 2.11% in 2042 last week. Scholarship Prep Schools in California sold non-rated bonds at 5.00% in 2060. The University of Connecticut just issued $279 million of A1 rated bonds yielding 1.69% in 2041. HJ Sims brought a $30 million financing through the Westchester County Local Development Corporation for The Knolls continuing care retirement community in Valhalla that we structured with noon-rated bonds due in 2055 priced at a premium to yield 4.90%

Investors who have been in the market all year have done very well across asset classes. On top of all the gains in the equity market, U.S. Treasuries are up 8.28%, high yield corporates 4.2%, investment grade corporates 9.3%, convertibles 44.3% and preferreds 5.1%. Municipal bond indices are up 4.99% and within the muni sector, taxable bonds are up 11.52%, and hospital bonds are returning 6.05%. High yield munis are up 4.48% and are likely to be among the stars of 2021.

Before the year comes to a close, we have the 13th and final Federal Open Market Committee meeting of 2020, data releases on retail sales, housing starts, home sales jobless claims, inflation, spending, consumer sentiment. We approach the end of 2020 with sadness over coronavirus losses and angst over the damage wrought on our nation. There are 10.7 million unemployed, and 17 million behind on rent and mortgage payments. Just two months into the new fiscal year, our federal deficit totaled $429.3 billion. The national debt at $27.4 trillion amounts to $218,704 per taxpayer. U.S. corporations owe more than $10.5 trillion to creditors in the form of loans or bonds. Household debt stands at $14.35 trillion.

But we end on a merry note, with the hopes of millions resting in small doses as one vaccine is being delivered to hospitals and nursing homes, and another one is nearing FDA approval. We will be back in a few weeks to take a look at the some of the market-moving trends carrying us into 2021. For now, all of us at HJ Sims simply wish you and yours a joyful holiday season with all the comforts of home and family, and only healthy and successful days in the new year.

by Gayl Mileszko

The Cascade Mountain range, named for the great cascades found near the Columbia River Gorge on the Oregon-Washington border, extends for more than 700 miles from Lassen Peak in northern California through the Fraser River in southern British Columbia. The highest peaks in the range include Mount Hood and Mount Ranier. These mountains are part of the Pacific Ocean’s Ring of Fire where nearly 90% of the world’s largest volcanic eruptions occur. There are said to be 452 volcanoes in the Ring, and they fall into three main kinds: cinder cones, shield volcanoes, and composite volcanoes. The latter, also known as stratovolcanoes, have steep profiles and periodic explosive eruptions with swift, avalanche-like, ground sweeping pyroclastic flows of gas and rock, steam and water. Of the three types, stratovolcanoes pose the greatest hazard to civilizations.

Forty years ago, the most deadly and economically destructive eruption in U.S. history occurred at Mount St. Helens in Washington, a stratovolcano located 96 miles south of Seattle. On May 18, 1980, an earthquake caused the entire north face to slide away, creating the largest landslide ever recorded on Earth. An eruption column rose 15 miles into the atmosphere and deposited ash in 11 states and 2 Canadian provinces. The debris avalanche was of such proportion that it would fill all 32 NFL stadiums in the country 31 times over. In total, Mount St. Helens released 24 megatons of thermal energy. Approximately 57 people were killed, hundreds of square miles were reduced to wasteland, and damages exceeded $2.7 billion. President Carter surveyed the damage and said that the area looked more desolate than a moonscape. Two years later, President Reagan designated the area as the Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument, to be used for research, education and recreation. Although seismic activity continued there for the next 28 years, hundreds of thousands still visit.

In 2020, the impacts from the coronavirus pandemic continue to cascade. In the state of Washington alone, cases total 184,404 and deaths total 2,941 as of December 7. More than 24% of staffed adult acute care hospital beds there were occupied by suspected and confirmed COVID-19 patients. The Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington projects that, without a vaccine rollout or the re-imposition of social distancing mandates, global cases will peak on January 20. As we approach the end of a deadly and destructive year, one in which several entire industries have been laid to waste and nearly every sector of the economy has been damaged, we cling to more optimistic projections for 2021.

Financial markets trade on expectations and we have seen irrepressible optimism since late March lows. We do not know the exact timing, but we can visualize the return of students to campus and fans to stadiums, the rescheduling of facelifts and knee surgeries, the booking of business flights and hotel stays, the pampering at spas, celebrations at restaurants, train trips to shop in the city, and booms in Boomer generation searches for dynamic life plan communities. The city streets may be desolate right now, but we are thinking long-term, venturing out of our cocoon havens, and willing to assume some investment risk because we know there will be a massive recovery, an economic and ecological regeneration such as the one that occurred at Mount St. Helens after the big blast. During the first week of trading in December, the Dow is up 1.5%, having broken through the 30,000 level, the S&P is up nearly 2% to 3,691 and the Nasdaq has gained 2.6% to 12,519. Oil is up 1% to $45.76 a barrel and gold prices have risen 5% to $1,865. So far this month, 10- and 30-year Treasury yields have climbed 10 basis points to 0.92% and 1.67%, respectively, while 10-year BAA rated corporate bond yields have dropped 6 basis points to 2.72%. Top-rated municipal bond yields have held steady at 0.72% for 10-year maturities and 1.42% for the 30-year primarily due to the lack of supply and demand for tax-exemption.

HJ Sims is in the market this week with a $30 million financing for The Bethel Methodist Home, better known as The Knolls, an entrance fee community with assisted living and skilled nursing in Valhalla, New York. The non-rated transaction is structured with a tax-exempt and taxable series and has a 35-year final maturity. Market demand for higher yielding maturities is exceptionally strong, supply has been light, and borrowers have been rare beneficiaries. Last week, three muni deals with Baa3 or BBB-minus rating came to market with 5% coupon bonds due in 35 years: the Glendale Industrial Development Authority brought a $90.7 million issue for Inspirata Pointe at Royal Oaks in Sun City, Arizona that priced to yield 3.58%; the Maryland Economic Development Corporation had an $80.8 million deal for student housing at Morgan State University yielding 4.09%; and the California Enterprise Development Authority sold $55.9 million of student housing revenue bonds for San Diego State University that yielded 3.02%. The Public Finance Authority of Wisconsin issued $37 million of Ba1 rated bonds for Charter Day School in Leland, North Carolina yielding 3.81% in 2055. And the Utah State Charter School Finance Authority sold $8.2 million of non-rated bonds for Paradigm High School structured with a 2051 maturity that priced at par to yield 5.125%.

There are technically three weeks remaining for issuers to access the markets, but one week from Friday trading and sales will wind down for the year. As you finalize your 2020 tax planning and plan your strategies for next year, we invite you to contact your HJ Sims partner today for guidance and recommendations tailored to your specific profile and needs. In the meantime, for all those celebrating the Festival of Lights, we wish you and your families the warmth of joy, the sparkle of health, and the glow of happiness and prosperity.

by Gayl Mileszko

Ecdysis, commonly called shedding, occurs when a lobster extrudes itself from its old shell. Unlike animals that are soft-bodied and have skin, a lobster’s shell, once hard, will not grow much more. But all forty species of lobster continue to grow throughout their lives, so when the shells become hard and inelastic they must be shed. This happens periodically. As a result, lobsters spend much of their time preparing for, or undergoing ecdysis and arranging safe burrows for the time it takes for the new shell to harden. The overall process of preparing for, performing, and recovering from ecdysis is known as molting. Lobsters molt five or six times in the first season, but the length of time between molts increases as the lobster ages such that an adult will molt only once or twice a year and females may go two years between molts when they are carrying eggs. Many factors including water temperature, food supply, and availability of shelter control when and where a lobster will molt. The actual shedding process only takes the lobster twenty or thirty minutes, depending on environmental conditions and the size of the animal, but this is when it is most vulnerable to predators.

The start to a new decade has made clear our vulnerabilities as well as our adaptability. The predator, a pandemic, has caused us to shed our plans, routines and ways of thinking. Many of us have experienced a sea change in how and where we live, work, travel, learn and communicate. The only constant is change and, in 2020, it has been sudden and massive. The impacts have certainly varied. Some individuals, institutions, communities and systems are well along in the recovery process while others have been shell shocked and suffered painful losses, or still remain in the burrow. There are less than thirty days left in the year and yet we cannot be sure how it will end and what comes next. There are still so many variables – including political, social, scientific and economic ones — at our local, state, national, regional, and global levels.

The financial markets have enjoyed favorable environmental conditions and year-long shelter from central banks. This in and of itself is shocking as is our expectation that it rallies will continue ad infinitum. In spite of global upheavals and tectonic shifts in demand, manufacturing, distribution, and technology, stock and bond markets have been in rally mode for all but about five weeks this year. Stock market volatility as measured by the VIX CBOE Index has risen from 13.78 to 20.57, but it is down 83% from the peak level of 82 in mid-March. So far in 2020, the Nasdaq is up 36%, the S&P 500 is more than 12% higher, the Russell 2000 is up 9%, and the Dow has gained nearly 4%. More than $140 billion has been raised in approximately 383 initial public offerings, exceeding the full-year record high set during the peak of the dot-com boom in 1999. The BAA corporate benchmark yield has dropped 92 basis points to 2.78%. Investment grade corporate issuance is well over $1.7 trillion and high yield corporate bond issuance exceeds $400 billion so far this year. After rising to record highs and dipping again, gold prices are still up 17%.

On the bond market side, the 2-year Treasury yield has fallen from 1.56% to 0.14%. The 10-year yield has dropped from 1.91% to 0.83%. The 30-year yield is down 82 basis points to 1.56%. The AAA municipal tax-exempt benchmark yield has fallen from 1.04% to 0.15%, the 10-year from 1.44% to 0.72%, and the 30-year from 2.09% to 1.41%. Municipal volume is on track to smash all records this year as borrowers have clawed or rolled their way to market to secure funds to undertake new, renovation and expansion projects, bolster liquidity, and refinance outstanding debt at low rates, often including low corporate and taxable rates.

Although the municipal calendar shrank to the smallest of the year at $18.8 billion in November as issuers elected to avoid possible volatility surrounding the elections, year-to-date issuance exceeded $440.8 billion as of November 30. Muni price performance has recently been the best in three decades. Among non-rated senior living deals priced in the past few weeks, Wesley Communities of Ohio brought a $69.5 million transaction with a final maturity in 2055 priced at 5.25% to yield 5.09%. St. Andrews’s at Francis Place in St. Louis had a $37 million deal structured with 2053 term bonds priced at 5.25% to yield 5.75%, Vivera Senior Living of Jeffersonville brought a $20.4 million deal that had 20-year term bonds priced at 5.25% to yield 5.20%, and Morningside Senior Living (TX) had a $15.3 million financing with 30-year bonds priced at par to yield 5.125%. In the non-rated education sector, Crossroads Christian Schools sold $20.5 million of bonds due in 2056 priced with a coupon of 5% to yield 4.75%, Columbia College in South Carolina had a $16 million issue structured with 2045 term bonds priced at par to yield 5.75%, and Blinn College had a student housing bond sale that included a 2057 maturity priced at par to yield 5.00%.

At HJ Sims, we welcome our investing clients to contact us for our thoughts on how to re-invest the $51 billion of muni bonds maturing or being called in December and January, how to prepare for year end, and how to position for 2021. We are always available to our banking clients and prospective borrowers looking for guidance on market rates and access. As we look to bring the best possible conclusion to a year that no one ever envisioned, we welcome your input, comments and questions.

by Gayl Mileszko

Our seasonal favorite, “Over the River and Through the Wood” was originally published in 1844 as a poem written by Lydia Maria Child and later set to music by a composer still unknown. Over the years, many of us have grown up singing this joyful song en route to celebrate Thanksgiving with family, sometimes changing the lyrics but never the melody:

Over the river, and through the wood, to Grandfather’s house we go;
the horse knows the way to carry the sleigh through the white and drifted snow.

Over the river, and through the wood, to Grandfather’s house away!
We would not stop for doll or top, for ’tis Thanksgiving Day.

Over the river, and through the wood— oh, how the wind does blow!
It stings the toes and bites the nose as over the ground we go.

Over the river, and through the wood— and straight through the barnyard gate,
We seem to go extremely slow, it is so hard to wait!

Over the river, and through the wood— When Grandmother sees us come,
She will say, “O, dear, the children are here, bring a pie for everyone.”

Over the river, and through the wood— now Grandmother’s cap I spy!
Hurrah for the fun! Is the pudding done? Hurrah for the pumpkin pie!

This year, AAA predicts that only 47.8 million Americans, about 15% of us, will travel for this Thanksgiving holiday, with 95% of us planning to go by car, 2.4 million flying, and 353,000 traveling by bus, train or cruise. This would be the greatest year-over-year drop since 2008 and it could be the biggest on record, all as a result of COVID-related concerns. There are quarantine policies, public transit fears, and government advisories or restrictions on activities, the size gatherings, business hours and configurations. Many argue that, after eight months of unprecedented pandemic-induced separations and deprivations, this year — more than any other — is the time for us to gather and give thanks for all we have endured. But there are also many sound justifications for pause, for distance, for establishing what may be new traditions for virtual celebrations. There are also plenty of great new excuses for avoiding angry dinner time political arguments, awkward moments with crazy Uncle Harry, and Aunt Edna’s mincemeat tarts.

The average age of a first-time grandparent is 50 and, at AARP’s last count, there were more than 70 million grandparents in the United States. For those who long to travel, families will think long and hard about the wisdom of descending on grandmother and grandfather’s house so as to significantly limit the risk of spreading a virus that poses such a fatal risk to those in their age group. Recent studies show that the infection fatality rate for COVID-19 increases from 0.4% at age 55 to as high as 15% at age 85. The CDC reports that, through the 12th of November, 92 percent of COVID-19 deaths nationwide have occurred among those ages 55 or older.

One in ten grandparents lives in the same household with their grandchildren, and 5 percent of those are primary caregivers, so for these families no travel through the woods would be necessary this Thanksgiving anyway. But for the six or seven percent who live in assisted living communities or skilled nursing facilities, it has not been possible for family to get through the barnyard gates to visit or share a pie for eight long months. It has been so hard to wait … and yet the wait goes on.

Financial markets will slow next week, fewer new deals with come to market as traders and buyers pause for the all-American holiday. The pace of issuance, of initial public offerings, of horse trading, has been frenetic this year. The investment community is exhausted by the recession induced by the pandemic, the market volatility, the uncertainty, the months of living with the devastating impacts on schoolchildren and small businesses, the toppling of industry titans and explosive shift in demand for technology, the massive central bank interventions and staggering levels of stimulus during a polarized election season that seems never ending. We have lived with fear and the fear of missing out, yearning for yield and vaccines, with new perspectives on the differences in how our states operate, with varying degrees of loathing and respect for our branches of government. We have forged many rivers and are taking the best paths we know, but are not yet out of the woods.

At HJ Sims, our veteran banking, underwriting, sales and trading professionals are working with our clients on year-end strategies, income needs, refinancing options, and planning for 2021. Our base assumption is that we will be in a low rate environment for several more years, so we are structuring financings for our borrowers at the lowest competitive rates while finding the highest yielding, income-producing instruments most suitable for our loyal investors. We will be working through the holidays as we have a number of new issues scheduled through year-end and into the new year, and our trading, advisory and sales teams are always active.

In response to preliminary election results, economic data, fizzled stimulus hopes, promising vaccine developments, and news reports of surging case counts, the equity, bond and commodity markets have all generally rallied this month. Historic correlations remain askew. Since the end of March when pandemic lockdowns began and market turmoil peaked, the Dow is up 36% and the S&P 500 40% while the Nasdaq and Russell 200 have soared by 55%. Ten-year Baa-rated corporate bonds yields have fallen 174 basis points to 2.86%. Oil prices are up more than 104% a barrel to $41.21. Gold prices have gained 18% an ounce to $1,886. Although 10- and 30-year Treasury yields are up, 2-year yields have dropped 26% to 0.17%. Top-rated municipal bond yields have plummeted across the curve: the 2-year is down 90 basis points to 0.16%, the 10-year is down 56 basis points to 0.77% and the 30-year is down 48 basis points to 1.51%. Non-rated bonds priced last week came with yields in the range of 5.50% in 2050.

Back in the fall of 1621 in Plymouth, Massachusetts, there was a bountiful harvest after a year of sickness and scarcity. Pilgrims celebrated a tradition called the Harvest Home. Massasoit, a leader of the Wampanoag People, along with 90 of his men joined the English for three days of entertainment and feasting. No one knew what the coming days, months or years would bring. Three hundred and ninety nine years later, we are still unsure of what the future has in store. But we know that having somewhere to go is home, having someone to love is family, and having both is a true blessing. To all our valued staff, loyal clients, industry colleagues, to all the grandparents among the thousands of residents living in communities that we have been privileged to finance, we at HJ Sims wish you a very happy Thanksgiving.

by Gayl Mileszko

Preston Edward Buckley, 103, of Perrytown, North Carolina drove himself to his local board of elections five miles away in Warrenton and, for the first time in his 82 years of voting, cast his general election ballot curbside. A native of Carroll County, Tennessee, Mr. Buckley is a World War II veteran who became one of the first African-Americans to serve on the New Jersey Highway Patrol. After retirement, he moved to North Carolina and became an investigator for a law firm. A proud citizen, born three years before the 19th Amendment gave women the right to vote, he served as a poll watcher and even conducted voting workshops well into his 90’s. Mr. Buckley along with the rest of his neighbors in the Tar Heel State are still waiting for the final tallies. More than one million absentee ballots were cast there and those postmarked on or before November 4th with the proper signatures will be accepted up until this Thursday, November 12th. Results are expected to be certified on Friday.

The Associated Press (“AP”) has been counting the vote for 170 years, tabulating results, and declaring unofficial winners on Election Night or soon thereafter. This year, the AP has again called most of the 7,000 races it followed, starting with the two state results first declared at 7 p.m. on Election Night, culminating with the presidential race on November 7 at 11:26 a.m. The pandemic altered the method of voting for millions of Americans and turnout was well above average. Our patience in an era which generally affords us instant gratification has been tested this time by the closeness of the vote in key areas, the markedly different procedures and deadlines adopted by individual states, the slowness of mail-in vote tallies, and polling that proved to be way off base. Several recounts will soon occur and more than the usual number of lawsuits are being filed to, among other things, halt the count, disqualify tranches of ballots, and compel closer observation of the counting process.

Wall-to-wall media coverage of all the twists and turns began well ahead of the first absentee votes which began arriving a month and a half before Election Day. Estimates vary, but a fair number of the 157.6 million registered voters have new questions about the integrity of the process. Debate on reforms at the local, state and federal level will no doubt ensue, shaped by this year’s post-mortems as well as promising new technologies. In the meantime, our republic awaits official election results in the form of individual state certifications in the coming days and weeks, the official votes of the Electoral College on December 14th, and the final count by Congress on January 6th.

Wall Street has already conducted its own tallies, digested results which appear to confirm a divided federal government, lessened regulatory and tax hike risks, GOP control of state houses and legislatures, and no earth-shattering referendum outcomes. Stocks had their biggest post-election rally in over a century. Treasuries also staged a massive rally, propelling municipal and corporate bonds. On the heels of the investor relief rally came the news that Pfizer and BioNTech reported that their Covid-19 vaccine is more than 90% effective. The Dow and S&P 500 indices jumped again, hitting record highs, as investors cheered the prospect of controlling the disease that has derailed our economy for most of the year and killed more than 239,000 of our citizens.

Since the start of the month, the CBOE Volatility Index, dubbed the Fear Index, has dropped 35% to 24.80. The Dow is up 11% to 29,420. The S&P 500 has gained 275 points or more than 8% to 3,545. The Nasdaq is up 642 points to 11,553. The Russell 2000 has gained 198 points or 13%. Oil is 16% higher at $41.36. Gold prices have increased $3 an ounce. As investors turn to risk assets in the twin relief rallies, pundits might expect bonds to have sunk. Treasuries have, in fact, weakened over these past 10 days. The 2-year yield is 3 basis points higher at 0.18%, the 10-year has added 8 basis points to sit at 0.95% and the 30-year yield has increased 9 basis points to 1.74%. However, the 10-year Baa corporate bond yield has dropped 12 basis points to 2.91%. The 2-year AAA benchmark municipal yield has fallen 1 basis point to 0.20, the 10-year yield dropped 7 basis points to 0.86% and the 30-year yield has fallen 10 basis points to 1.61%.,

Since Election Day 2016, the Dow has gained 61%, the S&P is up 66%, the Russell 2000 has increased by 45% and the Nasdaq by 123%. Oil prices are 8% lower and gold is 47% higher. Ten-year Treasury yields are 35% lower. The lowest investment grade corporate yields have dropped 41%. 10-year tax-exempt yields have been reduced by half from where they stood at 1.71%.

The past two weeks have seen blockbuster corporate issuance but a light municipal calendar. The 30-day visible supply of municipal bonds only totals $7.9 billion. Ahead of the elections, state, local and non-profit borrowers came to market at a fast and furious pace. Mid-October saw the second largest competitive sale week on record. The volume was easily absorbed by a market with unrelenting demand for tax-exempt bonds and newfound demand for taxable and corporate CUSIP supply bolstered in part by foreign demand which has doubled year-over-year. Overseas buyers are discovering new diversification within rating categories, a notable pickup in spread, additional value, less credit risk than with investment grade corporate bonds, and a lot more yield than in their own sovereign debt.

High yield municipal bonds and longer maturities have been outperforming shorter investment grade counterparts in the latest risk-on environment. This class has been stressed throughout the pandemic as investors feared the pandemic’s long-term impact on airlines, airports, mass transit, toll roads, smaller universities, rural hospitals, and nursing homes. But buyers tired of seeing months of negative real returns on short investment grade holdings and mutual funds, and recognizing the essentiality of these institutions, facilities and services in their own communities are buying individual bonds again. In the past two weeks, we have seen Edkey Charter Schools come to market with an $87 million non-rated deal structured with 35-year term bonds priced at 5.00% to yield 5.125%. Judson Park, Judson Manor, and South Franklin Circle life plan communities in Ohio, borrowed $83.8 million in a BBB-minus financing that featured a 2050 term bond priced at 5.00% to yield 4.19%. The Tahoe-Douglas Visitors Authority sold $112 million of non-rated revenue bonds including a 2051 maturity priced at 5.00% to yield 4.47%. And Missouri Slope Lutheran Care Center in Bismarck, North Dakota had a $78 million non-rated transaction with a final maturity in 2056 priced with a coupon of 6.625% to yield 6.85%.

Bond markets closed on Wednesday in observance of Veterans Day. We at HJ Sims thank Preston Buckley of Perrytown, North Carolina and all the veterans who have sacrificed much to defend our precious freedoms, namely: those of speech, religion, press, assembly, and the right to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

by Gayl Mileszko

Many presidential election years are unforgettable: when candidates are “firsts”, when there is a true upset, when it takes weeks or months for voters to know the outcome. 2020 was already guaranteed an indelible spot in our memory banks. It will be unforgettable – but not in the sweet Nat King Cole way. It began with an impeachment, then came the pandemic, the polemics, the huge number of Democratic primary contenders, the Federal Reserve Bank interventions, the record levels of federal and campaign spending, the protests and riots and talk of police defunding, the debate over social media’s effort at content moderation, the postponement of the Olympics, the chasm over the third Supreme Court appointment. It has been a nasty, brutish year and has not always revealed America at its best. And 2020 is not over yet. At this writing, all the election year winners have not yet been declared but we know that, no matter what, the results will upset about half of the American populus. Financial markets, heads of state, and cable news anchors may take some time to adjust to the situation. Fortunately, this unforgettable year is almost behind us. But there are still 60 days until the new Congress is sworn in and 76 days until the inaugural ball. The one constant for us is the Fed and its monetary policy, and that is elevating our markets.

In the week leading into Election Day 2016, the Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index (VIX), a measure of stock market anxiety that is often called the fear gauge, rose 40%. This past week, the gauge has only risen from 32.46 to 35.08. On Election Day in 2012, the VIX stood at 17.58, and in 2008 it was at 47.73. On the bond side, the performance of Treasuries, municipal and corporate bonds is more often driven by Federal Reserve activity, and Fed Fund futures prices currently indicate a 100% likelihood no change in rates when the Open Market Committee meeting concludes on Thursday. The markets have already priced in no changes for the next three years. The Dow at 27,480 and the S&P 500 are right where they were back in late February; the Nasdaq at 11,160 is not far off all-time highs. Oil prices at $37.66 have been relatively stable for five months. Gold prices at $1,909 an ounce are off the all-time highs of three months ago, but rising. The 10-year Treasury yield closed on Tuesday at 0.88%, and the 30-year at 1.65%, both roughly where they stood in early June. The 30-year tax-exempt benchmark at 1.71% is also the same yield as it was in early June. The 10-year AAA municipal general obligation bond yield last closed at 0.94%, where it stood at the end of February.

Municipal bond fund investors added another $582 million to mutual funds last week while U.S. and global equity funds faced $6.6 billion of withdrawals. State and local borrowers brought $11.6 billion of deals to market last week, raising municipal issuance totals for October to $65.2 billion, the second highest level on record. HJ Sims was in the market with two senior living financings. We underwrote an $89 million non-rated issue for Jefferson’s Ferry that was structured with a final maturity in 2055 and sold through the Town of Brookhaven Local Development Corporation with a 4.00% coupon at a premium to yield 3.75%. We also brought a $48.5 million BBB-minus rated transaction for Blakeford at Green Hills which featured a 35-year final maturity issued through the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County Health and Educational Facilities Board with a 4.00% coupon yielding 4.40%. Among other life plan community transactions, the Henrico County Economic Development Authority issued $47.3 million of A-minus rated revenue and refunding issue for Westminster Canterbury Richmond priced at 4.00% to yield 3.19% in 2050 and the Public Finance Authority issued $50 million of A-minus rated bonds for eight Carmelite communities that had a final maturity in 2045 priced at 5.00% to yield 3.53%. In the charter school sector, the Pima County Industrial Development Authority sold $87 million of non-rated bonds for Edkey Charter Schools that had a 2055 term bond priced at 5.00% to yield 5.125%; the California Public Finance Authority issued $28.3 million of non-rated revenue bonds for California Crosspoint Academy that came with a 35-year maturity priced at par to yield 5.125%.

This week, the Federal Open Market Committee meets in Washington and the markets await the final outcomes of races where votes are still being counted. We congratulate those elected to federal, state and local offices. Public service in the age of social media in the midst of a pandemic-induced recession is extraordinarily challenging. Our newly elected leaders face harsh realities and deserve our support and best wishes. This week, voters spoke, the nation revealed its stars and stripes, the next campaigns begin, and life goes on. At HJ Sims, we are at your service, providing the right structures, financing and execution for our banking clients and outcome of income for our investors.

by Gayl Mileszko

The year 2020 still has more than two months to go but its dross is already plastered all over the record books. Many of us just want to flip the calendar forward and welcome a happy new year. Some would prefer to turn back the clock. But if we go back 100 years, we would find a time not unlike the current one where the country was battling a deadly pandemic as racial strife flared. As the last troops were returning from World War I, the Spanish flu was still raging in its third year. Membership in the Ku Klux Klan was increasing. Citizens wavered between supporting a future of isolation or globalism. Everyone yearned for normalcy. Provisions of the 131-year-old Constitution were hotly debated at the kitchen table and in state legislatures; and two amendments were adopted. The American workplace was changing dramatically and media began to impact our day-to-day lives. Station KDKA in Pittsburgh became the first commercially licensed radio broadcaster. For the first time, families who purchased radios heard the results of the presidential election as they were read off the telegraph ticker.

In 1920, Babe Ruth began playing for the New York Yankees, the National Football League was founded, and U.S. athletes won 95 medals at the Summer Olympics in Antwerp, Begium. A century later, the baseball season did not begin until July 23, many football teams are playing with no spectators allowed, and the Olympic games were postponed for the first time in history. At the start of the Roaring Twenties, many Americans were able to own a telephone and a car for the first time, the Holland Tunnel was funded, the Constitution was twice amended by the states to prohibit alcohol and grant women the right to vote, and the presidential election resulted in a landslide victory. In 2020, we have had a landslide of crises. Cars have been garaged and streets have been empty, the largest stimulus packages in U.S. history have been enacted to support a pandemic-stricken economy, constitutional provisions relating to the Electoral College, Supreme Court appointments, and impeachment have been hotly debated. Alcohol consumption has risen sharply as a result of coronavirus lockdowns, the 24/7 media have a dramatic impact on our lives, and voter-eligible turnout has been four percentage points higher for women since the 1990s.

As has been the norm this year, the financial markets are closely monitoring polls, early voting, pandemic statistics, vaccine progress, and stimulus negotiations. Discussions with colleagues and clients are dominated by talk of swing states, sweeps, mail-in ballots, turnout, ties and upsets. Investors are hoping for swift and clear results without post-election disturbances but, in a year full of the unexpected, that seems unlikely. So, some are shorting commodities or emerging market currencies, others are hedging with S&P 500 index puts or governments. With less than one week to go to Election Day, markets have quieted as many individuals as well as institutions sit back and wait for more clarity. We have had plenty of time to implement strategies limiting downside risk or position so as to pounce on opportunities in a post-election rally, vacuum, or selloff.

We expect to see volatility in any period of uncertainty. By one measure, the Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index (VIX), the level has risen 23% this month and 136% since the start of the year. In many respects, we are surprised that the jumps have not been substantially higher. But the Federal Reserve has been, and remains, more than just a stabilizing influence in all markets. We have seen rallies of landslide proportions in the stock and bond markets. Even at this point in the recession, the Dow is only off by 96 points month-to-date while the S&P 500 is up 38 points and the Nasdaq is up 191 points. Oil prices have fallen 4% to $38.56 a barrel. Gold prices have gained $4.70 an ounce to $1,902. On the bond side, U.S. Treasuries have weakened in October: the 2-year at 0.15% is up 3 basis points, the 10-year at 0.80% has increased 12 basis points, and the 30-year at 1.59% is up 14 basis points. The BAA corporate benchmark yield has actually fallen 6 basis points to 2.96%. Tax-exempt municipal benchmark yields are up across the curve: the 2-year has risen 5 basis points to 0.18%, the 10-year is up 9 basis points to 0.96%, and the 30-year has increased 12 basis points to 1.74%.

This week marks the last trading week of October. The municipal calendar is expected to total $15 billion and HJ Sims is in the market with two new bond issues to finance expansion projects: an $86.4 million BBB rated transaction for Jefferson’s Ferry in South Setauket, New York and a $44.9 million BBB-minus rated at Blakeford at Green Hills in Nashville, Tennessee. Last week, we brought a $77.6 million non-rated revenue and refunding deal for John Knox Village in Pompano Beach, structuring the final maturity with a 4.00% coupon priced to yield 3.92% in 2050. On the equity side, the market is being rocked this week by the world’s largest IPO, a $34.4 billion share sale by Ant Group. Investors are also digesting U.S. corporate earnings reports; by the time the week is out, one third of the S&P 500 index components, or 186 companies will have reported third quarter results. More than $28 billion of high yield corporate bond issues have come to market so far this month as have $60 billion of investment grade deals.

Next week, as November begins and the world awaits our election tallies, our trading and investment professionals will be hard at work to advise and execute for our clients as always. We do not know if the 59th quadrennial presidential election will result in a landslide, a squeaker, or a victory eventually determined by the Congress or Supreme Court. We do know that this election will not turn out as did the first one in 1789 — with a unanimous vote by electors – or the one in 1920, when Alaska and Hawaii were not yet admitted to the Union. But our votes do count, our system will work as designed and, no matter the outcome, we will remain proud to work in the best financial markets and greatest country in the world.

by Gayl Mileszko

Election Day typically stirs in us a multitude of feelings: excitement for our candidates, anxiety over the possibility of change, hope for the future of our family and country, pride in being an American exercising our right and privilege to vote. But the passion and patriotism reflected in Norman Rockwell’s classic mid-20th century images of voters is rarely evident this millennium. Only 50.3% of eligible voters turned out in for the 2018 mid-term elections, and 60.2% in 2016. So far this year, because the pandemic has led to expanded absentee and early voting, some 30 million have already cast their ballots. However, this has not made any of us immune to the polarizing chatter on network, cable and social media that is likely to continue long past the final tallies.

At HJ Sims, our investment professionals are sorting through the same issues, policy and economic implications, in the effort to determine what is best for our families, for you, for our communities, our industry, and our country. We are trying to tune out all the hype and hysteria to keep our attention on the things we can control or manage. We do not have a crystal ball, but we do have our years of experience in a multitude of market cycles. Like you, we are being told to expect extreme volatility to accompany scenarios involving a likely landslide, a clean sweep, or contested results that take us past inauguration day. After the events of this year, we will not be surprised by anything. But we take a lot of the talk and polls with a grain of salt in the belief that the system established by our 231 year-old Constitution, as amended, will work as intended. Markets may suffer, in our view, but they will soon absorb the results and move forward in line with expectations for further economic recovery.

We move on after every election with our lives and our plans for college, purchasing a new home, saving for retirement, living our retirement. Our recommendations to clients are properly tailored to individual situations and needs, and we have been in touch with you throughout the course of the pandemic. In the coming weeks and months, we will be in contact many times to assist you in being properly positioned to withstand some uncertainty while meeting your short- and long-term investment goals. As you know, markets fluctuate and performance varies. Algorithmic trading may produce some erratic sessions, and there is always year-end profit-taking and tax loss harvesting. But if you own bonds, we advise that you keep a few facts at hand to provide some reassurance in uncertain moments:

• Just about every possible scenario has been well documented and analyzed and voters are braced for a close election and numerous possible outcomes, unlike in 2016.
• The Federal Reserve intends to keep rates near 0% until 2024. That policy is supportive of risk assets and keeps longer-term bond yields lower. The Fed has intervened swiftly and effectively to stabilize markets in the past two recessions. They have a $7.1 trillion balance sheet and a variety of tools available including liquidity facilities and yield curve control, which involves buying enough long term bonds to keep prices from plummeting. Chair Jerome Powell has a term that ends in 2028 and the members of the Open Market Committee have staggered terms that go out to 2034.
• U.S. securities meet with strong global demand as haven investments in a world with $16 trillion of bonds with negative yields.
• During the 34 days of uncertainty in the 2000 Bush-Gore contest, 10-year Treasury yields fell 9% or 52 basis points from 5.86% to 5.34%. The yield on the Bond Buyer Revenue Bond Index yield dropped 3% from 5.79% to 5.59%. The S&P 500 Index lost 4% or 60 points, and the Russell 2000 fell 6% or 29 points.
• Portfolio valuations will vary but coupon income remains steady in all but a very small percentage of cases. We believe that credit surveillance is essential and that risks should be regularly assessed in election as well as non-election cycles.
• Mutual fund flows are likely to be a much bigger factor on muni rates than election outcomes themselves. Municipal bond funds have seen $24.4 billion of inflows this year and have been positive for all but 1 of the past 23 weeks. If funds sell off in any type of temporary herd panic, prices may fall for a time but there may be great opportunities to acquire individual bonds at lower or discounted prices.
• Significant other technical factors contribute to the prevailing high muni prices. New issue supply has for years been insufficient to meet demand from investors seeking tax-exempt bonds, particularly those in states with high and increasing tax rates. The coming months will see large redemptions, calls and maturing bonds, producing cash looking for muni reinvestment opportunities.
• No major policy changes happen overnight; it took two years to enact tax reform and health care reform under single party control in Washington. Since 1945, Democrats have had control 37% of the time, Republicans 16%, and the White House and Congress have been split 47%. Main Street and Wall Street tend to prefer more legislative gridlock than less.
• Markets have been awaiting news of agreement on another fiscal stimulus, but this has so far been elusive. Stocks have traded up on every hint of progress as well as on positive corporate earnings. So far in October, at this writing, the Dow is up 413 points, the S&P 500 has gained 64 points and the Nasdaq 311 points. The BAA rated corporate bond index yield has dipped 14 basis points to 2.88%. The fear index has risen by 11%, oil is up by 1.5%, and gold has gained $12 an ounce. As assets have moved toward risk, Treasuries and munis have weakened. The 2-year Treasury yield has risen 2 basis points to 0.14% while the AAA rated general obligation bond benchmark is up 5 basis points to 0.18%. The 10-year Treasury at 0.76% is 8 basis points higher in October and the comparable muni yield has risen 7 basis points to 0.94%. The 30-year Treasury and long muni bond yields have both risen 10 basis points to 1.55% and 1.72%, respectively.

With less than two weeks to go before Election Day, borrowers are keeping the markets hopping. $15 billion is expected in the investment grade corporate bond market and $8 billion in the high yield sector after last week’s $20 billion supply. Last week, the $18 billion muni calendar included an $80 million Ba3 rated general obligation bond issue for the City of Detroit that saw orders from 30 institutional investors totaling $780 million. The 30-year maturity was re-priced at 5.50% to yield 4.12%. In other high yield deals, the Essex County Improvement Authority issued $29.5 million of BBB- rated revenue bonds for North Star Academy Charter School of Newark, structured with 2060 term bonds priced at 4.00% to yield 3.58%, and the Arkansas Development Finance Authority brought a $19.8 million non-rated deal for Responsive Education Solutions that had a 2051 final maturity priced with a 4.00% coupon to yield 4.18%.

This week, Markets have their eye on third quarter earnings, jobless claims, a slew of housing data, and the Fed’s Beige Book. The municipal slate is expected to total between $15 and $21 billion this week, with between $5 and $10 billion coming as taxable. The final presidential debate is scheduled for Thursday night, and the Tampa Bay Rays and Los Angeles Dodgers meet for the first three games of the 116th World Series.

Timetables are all topsy turvy this year so it should come as no surprise that the holiday shopping season kicks off this week, 73 days ahead of Christmas, 58 days ahead of Hanukkah. The headline event is Amazon’s members-only Prime Day, but there are competing sales promotions from other major retailers including Walmart, Target and Best Buy. Some 70% of Americans are planning to do at least some of their gift buying on Tuesday and Wednesday, and Amazon alone may rake in $10 billion or more. When sales are tallied, they are likely to smash all previous records for the top shopping days of the year. Consumers hunting for bargains but still reluctant to shop in person can find many on line, where retail sales are expected to grow 18.5% over last year. On top of health concerns over shopping in crowded stores and worries that Black Friday or Cyber Monday orders will not arrive in time, shoppers are being lured into early purchases by massive marketing campaigns and deep discounts.

In the bond markets, you really have to hunt to find anything good offered at discounted prices. It will help to work with your HJ Sims financial professionals and traders whose mission it is to achieve the outcome of income all year long. We scour offerings from institutions as well as other broker dealers for higher yielding bonds – corporate, tax-exempt and taxable munis — priced at attractive discounts. Last week, for example, when A+ rated Mastercard 3.35% bonds due in 2030 traded at $117.415, we sold Baa2 rated Kohl’s 4.25% due in 2025 at $99.682 and BB+ rated Ford Motor Credit 3.40% of 2026 at $94.25. Also last week, as Aa1 rated Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority 5.00% sales tax revenue bonds due in 16 years traded at $124.361, we sold BB rated Presbyterian Villages of Michigan 4.75% of 2053 at $97.55. In the taxable muni sector, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey sold A+ rated 5.647% bonds due in 20 years at prices as high as $142.029 and the University of Massachusetts Building Authority sold AA rated bonds with a 3.013% coupon due in 2043 at $102.622. We sold A2 rated Berklee College of Music bonds with a 3.086% coupon due in 2049 at $93.006.

In the primary municipal market last week, the calendar was the largest of the year so far at $16.1 billion and most new issues sold at premiums. Among higher yielding new issues, the Guam Department of Education sold $65.4 million of B+ rated certificates of participation for John F. Kennedy High School structured with 20-year term bonds priced at 5.00% to yield 4.90%. The Arizona Industrial Development Authority issued $19 million of BB+ rated bonds for Pinecrest Academy of Nevada including a 2053 term bond priced at 5.00% to yield 4.05% and $15.2 million of BB rated bonds for Mater Academy of Nevada that had a 30-year maturity priced at 5.00% to yield 4.25%. The Industrial Development Authority of Pima County issued $9.5 million of non-rated bonds for Synergy Public School due in 2050 priced at par to yield 5.00%.

Both the Treasury and municipal markets were hit with heavy supply last week. The U.S. Treasury auctioned $110 billion of 3-year, 10-year and 30-year securities in sales that were characterized as “fair” to “uninspired” while municipals easily digested a weekly calendar that was the largest of the year at $16 billion. State and local governments and non-profit borrowers are still accelerating plans for market entry in advance of the elections less than three weeks away so as to bolster liquidity, finance projects at low rates, and shore up programs whacked hard by the pandemic. Tax-exempt yields are still equal to or higher than U.S. Treasuries and both rose in tandem over the course of last week. The 2-year Treasury yield increased by 3 basis points to 0.15% while the 2-year tax-exempt AAA muni yield rose by 2 basis points to close at 0.15% as well. The 10-year Treasury yield weakened by 7 basis points to 0.77% as did the comparable muni which closed at 0.95%. The 30-year government yield ended the week 9 basis points higher, while the muni long bond closed up 10 basis points at 1.73%. The 10-year Baa rated taxable muni yield climbed 9 basis points to 2.62% while the comparable corporate bond yield dropped 2 basis points to 2.99%.

The coronavirus pandemic has been changing household, corporate and governmental behavior for more than seven months now. Most of us have become much more budget conscious. Many of us are buying exclusively online now, or focused on supporting local businesses or brands, projects and investments that are socially and environmentally conscious. Last week, Fitch Ratings categorized four areas of potentially enduring change impacting our lives and the credit picture for many borrowers. Their research identifies the work-from-home trend which impacts sales and income taxes, utility demand, property values, housing demand, traffic and mass transit; population shifts to lower tax and less dense areas; e-commerce and the virtual delivery of services, education and entertainment; and a reversal of globalization trends affecting international air travel and cargo volumes, trade, and domestic manufacturing and supply chains to name just a few. Time will tell how much has been fundamentally and permanently altered. In the meantime, we continue as we always have — to hunt for the best discounts.

Ward 71 is the nickname for The Medical Evaluation and Treatment Unit at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. It is called the Presidential Suite, but other high-ranking administration officials and military officers, First Ladies, Members of Congress, and Supreme Court Justices also receive medical care there. Not much descriptive information is published, but it is said to be a 3,000 square foot space taking up a full floor in one of 88 buildings on the 243-acre campus located about nine miles from the White House. The Department of Defense runs the facility, but this specific area is under the direct control of the White House. It has a private entrance and rooms said to include an intensive-care unit, a kitchen, a living room to receive visitors, bedrooms, a secure conference room, and space for the President, Chief of Staff and White House physician to work.

Walter Reed is known as the President’s Hospital and the Nation’s Medical Center. It was named for an Army surgeon who was the leading researcher to discover that yellow fever was transmitted by mosquitoes. The facility’s history of service to soldiers dates back to 1909, and to sailors and marines since 1942. In 2011 it was transformed by the joining and relocating of the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. to the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, on a site opposite the National Institutes of Health. It is now the world’s largest joint military medical center with 2.4 million square feet of clinical space that includes a total of 244 patient beds, staffed by more than 7,000 Army, Navy and Air Force medical personnel.

This is where President Trump was admitted last Friday evening after the surprising announcement that he tested positive for the coronavirus. It was the first time in 39 years that a sitting U.S. President was hospitalized, and the first time this close to an election, hence the news caused quite a stir around the world. The diagnosis suddenly presented the first serious health threat to a President in office since the attempted assassination of President Ronald Reagan. On Monday night, however, President Trump was released after being treated for three days with an experimental antiviral drug and a combination antibody. It is not known how his condition and recovery will impact his schedule, if his quarantine or illness will prohibit him from traveling and participating in person at the October 15 debate in Miami, for example. At this writing there are only 28 days to Election Day and health issues surround both septuagenarian candidates for the nation’s highest office. In addition, three Republican senators have tested positive, raising new questions about proceedings on the nominee to the Supreme Court, votes, and the odds of maintaining a majority in the upper house.

We are more than nine months into a year that has been full of what political groupies call “October surprises” upending the country. No doubt there will be more in the days, weeks and months ahead, as 2020 continues its stampede into the record books. The Federal Reserve and U.S. Treasury are using all their powers and tools to stabilize the economy, but some sectors have been crushed. It is difficult to imagine how much more can be done for the economy, and how and when we will manage to undo any setbacks. Some investors are wary, others see us as leading the world out of the recession, and many are just trying to stick to our long-term strategy and cope with all the day’s news as best way possible.

Last week, the third quarter came to an end as did the federal fiscal year. The President signed into law a continuing resolution to fund the government at current levels through December 11, removing the threat of a shutdown and at least one volatility trigger ahead of the elections. The Dow fell 2.3% in September but gained 7.6% during the quarter. The S&P 500 Index lost 3.9% last month, but was up 8.5% in the third quarter. The NASDAQ dropped 5.2% in a September tech selloff but rose 11% during the third quarter. The U.S. Treasury issued more than $1.7 trillion of bonds, notes and bills last month, bringing the total for the year to an astonishing $15.5 trillion, 28% more than was issued in all of 2019. Corporate high yield bond issuance in September was the third busiest month on record with more than $47 billion of volume according to Bloomberg; yields jumped 43 basis points during the month. Corporate investment grade volume was the seventh highest on record at $164.4 billion, bringing year-to-date issuance to $1.54 trillion. Corporate bond returns, as measured by the ICE BoAML Index, were negative 0.26% but gains so far this year are +6.61%.

Municipal bond volume increased 26.3% to $47.28 billion, the highest issuance in the month on records dating back to 1986. Year-to-date volume stands at $341.8 billion with $102.58 billion coming as taxable. Muni returns, as measured by the ICE BoAML Index, were negative 0.07% in September but total +3.18% after nine months. High yield munis returned +0.22% last month and are up 0.93% this year. Taxable munis lost 0.34% in September but are up 10.08% in 2020. In the final trading week of the quarter, muni bond funds saw outflows for the first time in 20 weeks. The $611 million of net withdrawals slightly reduced total fund assets to $830 billion.

At the end of September, the 2-year Treasury yield stood at 0.12%, basically flat on the month and on the quarter. The 10-year yield at 0.68% dropped 2 basis points in September but rose 3 basis points on the quarter. The 30-year yield at 1.45% also gained 2 basis points on the month and 4 basis points in the third quarter. The 10-year BAA corporate bond yield at 3.02% was flat on the month but plummeted 37 basis points on the quarter. High grade municipal bonds, as measured by the AAA MMD benchmark fell 3 basis points in September and 14 basis points during the quarter. The 10-year muni finished at 0.87%, up 6 basis points in September but down 3 basis points for the quarter. The 30-year at 1.62% also rose 6 basis points last month but was basically flat in the third quarter.

September brought several unwelcome surprises in the form of wildfires, hurricanes, a spike in COVID-19 cases, and an unusual debate. Markets moved on any news of incremental progress with a vaccine, Fed Chair Powell’s warning that the recovery remains highly uncertain, a dot plot signaling low rates through 2023, and the explosive partisan divide over the Supreme Court vacancy occurring with the passing of Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Investors waited in vain all month for passage of a fourth federal stimulus bill. Stress on the nation’s largest public transportation system led to a single notch rating downgrade; it was seen by many as the beginning of a long series of inevitable cuts reflecting the extent of damage wrought by six months of shutdowns on U.S. infrastructure.

The combination of extremely low rates and strong investor appetite for U.S. government, municipal, corporate and asset-backed bonds is attracting new as well as frequent and distressed borrowers. A+ rated Coca Cola had a $1.9 billion tender of notes with coupons ranging from 1.55% to 4.20%. Baa3/B+ rated Delta Air Lines raised $9 billion in the industry’s largest debt sale ever; its senior secured notes due in 2028 had a coupon of 4.75%. Uber Technologies placed a $500 million of CCC+ rated debt due in 2028 at 6.25%. A defaulted California project planning to convert rice cultivation debris into fiberboard sold $53 million of non-rated bonds due in 2032 at a yield of 8.169%. Credit analysis and surveillance is critical at this point in the political-economic cycle. We encourage you to consult with your HJ Sims representative to do a wellness check on your portfolios to reduce the risk of unwelcome surprises.

Through Facebook and Twitter, mountains of data providing insight on human behavior are available to advertisers and social scientists to study and exploit. Via algorithms used in video gaming, datamining is also being applied to the analysis of behavior in nature, where technology now provides oceans of data documenting the social behavior of fish, for example, to help us better understand and model ecosystems. As it turns out, fish form dynamic social networks well outside of schools, taking cues from each other and telegraphing critical information such as where it is safe to go and eat.

These days it is hard for those of us on solid ground to know where it is safe to go out — never mind what is safe for us to invest in. The Federal Reserve, the executive and legislative branches of government at the federal, state and local levels have taken unprecedented actions to both depress and bolster our economy since January. Social media, social distancing, home delivery services, N95 masks, UV-C light, air purifiers, corticosteroids, Vitamin D, convalescent plasma, all appear to be aiding us in battling this pandemic. Common sense, gut instinct, and trusted family, friends, colleagues, and investment advisers are also guiding us as we endeavor to protect our savings and boost our investments in an evolving ecosystem amid an ocean of uncertainty.

We are six months a pandemic that has felled more than 1 million around the world. Our nation has been struck by a recession of historic proportion. But many students are back in the classroom. Consumer confidence just jumped to 101.8 in September, up from 86.3 in August. Daily TSA Airport Passenger screenings have risen from 87,534 on April 14 to 873,038 on September 27. Retail sales have exceeded pre-crisis levels since June. New home sales have risen at the fastest pace since 2006. The Federal Reserve Chair, in testimony before Congress, refers to our economic recovery as “highly uncertain” and points to the need for additional stimulus. But the last jobs report reflected positive momentum. Data on September, the last we will see before November 3, will be reported on Friday. Third quarter GDP will be reported a mere five days before Election Day.

The stock market has had some significant intraday twists and turns in September trading and many strategists expect volatility to increase as we draw close to the presidential election. At this writing with one more day of data to go, equity indices are all down for the month: after swinging by more than 2300 points the Dow is down more than 3%, the S&P 500 has fluctuated by more than 340 points and has fallen over 165 points, and the Nasdaq has lost 6% with intramonth highs and lows varying by as much as 1400 points. On the commodity side, oil prices have fallen nearly 9% to $38.86 and gold prices are down more than 4% to $1,886 an ounce. Bond markets have been remarkably steady. Treasuries have traded in a narrow range all month, strengthening overall. The 2-year yield stands at 0.12%, the 10-year at 0.65% and the 30-year at 1.42%. The 10-year BAA corporate bond yield is flat on the month at 3.01%. Investment grade corporate issuance now exceeds $1.53 trillion in 2020. High yield corporate issuance at $335 billion is already higher than it has been for any full calendar year on record; this month’s volume exceeds $45 billion but the sector is expected to post a loss of 1.30%.

In the municipal bond market, the AAA general obligation bond 2-year benchmark yield has dropped 3 basis points this month to 0.13% while the 10-and 30-year yields have risen by 2 basis points to 0.83% and 1.58%, respectively. Municipal Market Analytics reports that munis have been essentially unchanged for 22 consecutive sessions, beating a 40-year old record. Approximately 40% of primary market sales in September have been federally taxable. Investors took in $25 billion of cash from bond redemptions and maturities; $2.2 billion flowed back into municipal bond mutual funds. Funds have seen 20 straight weeks of net inflows. Year-to-date, the BofAML Municipal Index is up 3.31%; the High Yield Index has returned 0.93% and the Taxable Muni Index 10.86%

September muni volume will likely exceed $50 billion for the second consecutive month. Among the higher yielding transactions last week, Lake County, Florida sold $126 million of non-rated bonds for Lakeside at Waterman Village in a financing that included 2055 term bonds priced at 5.75% to yield 5.58%. The Washington Housing Finance Commission issued $81.3 million of non-rated bonds for Rockwood Retirement Communities structured with 2056 term bonds priced with a coupon of 5.00% to yield 5.25%. The North Carolina Medical Care Commission came to market with a $53 million BBB-minus rated deal for Friends Homes that had 30-year term bonds priced at 4.00% to yield 3.48%. The Public Finance Authority of Wisconsin was in the market with a $22.8 million non-rated financing for Freedom Classical Academy In North Las Vegas structured with 2056 term bonds priced at 5.00% to yield 4.89%. The Colorado Educational and Cultural Facilities Authority sold $18.7 million of non-rated bonds for Liberty Tree Academy that came with 30-year term bonds priced at par to yield 5.75%.

This week, the markets are focused on the first presidential debate, quarter-end portfolio rebalancing, the Friday jobs numbers, prospects for agreement on a pre-election stimulus bill, Treasury loans to U.S. passenger airlines, economic data from China, outflows from high yield corporate bond funds, and a string of Federal Reserve speakers. As we enter the final quarter of the year, we encourage you to contact your HJ Sims advisor to review your positioning and strategy.

In the 40 days to Election Day, we follow a path with many twists and turns, certain only to be surprised by what is around the next corner. We have already had quite a journey this year, one that has taken us into a pandemic, a recession, and in directions never before traveled in terms of fiscal and monetary policy, lockdowns, and behavioral change. The appointment of a new Supreme Court Justice may lead us into a right turn, but other developments could have us bear left. The Federal Reserve has used all of its paving powers to try and keep our economy us on a straight and narrow course – one that may extend out to mile markers in 2023.  Financial markets have not always followed it. Stocks have stumbled this past week under a range of pressures. But since Labor Day, the bond markets have been keeping a steady pace. The municipal bond market has seen almost no change in price for three consecutive weeks.  Benchmark yields offer us no clue on future direction, although market history since 2014 tells us that the quarter end tends to take us on a downward slope. At this writing the 2-year Treasury yield and the 2-year AAA municipal general obligation bond yield are at 0.13%, the 10-year Treasury yields 0.66% and the tax-exempt counterpart yields more at 0.84%. The 30-year Treasury yields 1.42% while the 30-year muni is higher at 1.58%.

Last week’s $9 billion municipal calendar met with another warm welcome.  HJ Sims came to market with an $18.1 million BB rated issue for Presbyterian Villages of Michigan and sold the 4.75% Public Finance Authority bonds due in 2053 at a discount to yield 5.00%.  Among other senior living deals, the North Carolina Medical Care Commission had a $96 million BBB+ rated deal for Presbyterian Homes that featured 5.00% bonds due in 2050 at a yield of 3.03%. The Kalamazoo Economic Development Corporation issued $47.8 million of BB rated bonds for Heritage Community’s Revel Creek expansion that had term bonds due in 2055 priced at 5.00% to yield 4.40%. Franklin County, Ohio brought a $27.8 million BBB rated financing for Ohio Living Communities that included 2045 term bonds priced at 4.00% to yield 3.73%.  In the education sector, the St. Paul Housing and Redevelopment Authority issued $26 million of BB+ rated charter school bonds for Hmong College Preparatory Academy that had a maximum yield of 3.55% in 2055, and the California School Finance Authority brought a $10.1 million non-rated deal for Real Journey Academies that had a 39-year maturity priced at 5.00% to yield 3.98%.

At these, or even lower rates prevailing for most issuers, the volume is expected to increase for the next five or six weeks. So much uncertainty surrounds Election Day and outcomes that may not be known for days, weeks or months that borrowers are rushing to bring deals to market as soon as possible.  This week’s muni calendar is expected to exceed $12 billion. Corporate high yield issuance is only $2.5 billion away from a record high for the year and investment grade issuance is expected to total $30 billion. We encourage you to contact your HJ Sims financial professional to discuss whether your portfolio is well positioned for the twists and turns in the months ahead, how you might better prepare, and which opportunities to anticipate.

Hope is what sustained the 102 passengers of the Mayflower who departed from Plymouth, England for the New World four hundred years ago this week. In far more grim circumstances than we face today, on September 16, 1620, there were 41 Protestant Separatists or “Saints” – better known today as the Pilgrims – seeking freedom from the Church of England. A larger group of commoners including servants and children dubbed “Strangers” simply gambled the little they had on a new life in an unknown place in northern Virginia. They were 50 men whose average age was 34, 19 women, 14 teenagers and 19 children. The oldest was 64 and the youngest, Oceanus, was born during the voyage, which was financed by London stockholders. Crammed together with sheep, goats, chickens and dogs on the gun deck only 58 feet long, 24 feet wide and 5.5 feet high, they spent a grueling 66 days at sea during the height of the storm season. They ate old bread and dried fruit and salty fish; with no fresh drinking water, each person was rationed a gallon of beer per day. Nearly five percent of those aboard died en route. Yet, they were filled with gratitude to meet their new world.

The Mayflower passengers arrived in New England on November 11 and a group of 41 managed to draft and sign a 200-word document that came to be known as the Mayflower Compact, the first document to establish the framework for our self-government. It was a simple text, one worth a review in this complicated era where there are too many federal laws in force to count and even more regulations among the 50 subject matter titles in the Federal Register. Signatories agreed to “solemnly and mutually, in the presence of God, and one another; covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil body politic; for our better ordering, and preservation and furtherance of the ends aforesaid; and by virtue hereof to enact, constitute, and frame, such just and equal laws, ordinances, acts, constitutions, and offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the general good of the colony; unto which we promise all due submission and obedience.”

Plymouth Rock was said to have “received the footsteps of our fathers on their first arrival” in Plymouth Harbor on December 21, 1620. But, as the Pilgrims and the non-believers slowly built their town, they largely remained aboard the Mayflower in tiny quarters for another four harsh winter months. They endured outbreaks of scurvy, pneumonia and tuberculosis, malnutrition and exposure. Only 52 of the passengers departing from England, including 5 women and half of the 50-man crew, survived that first winter.

There are an estimated 10 million living Americans and 35 million people around the world who are descended from the original passengers on the Mayflower. Several hundred thousand who are not descended from the Aldens, Bradfords or Winslows still risk untold peril every year to come to America by sea, land and air. Latest federal data show that 7.8% of our population self-designates as having English roots, 14.7% German, 12.3% Black or African-American, 10.9% Mexican, 5.5% Italian, 3.3% French, 3% Polish. The U.S. population exceeds 331 million now outnumbered by only China and India. More than 40 million of us were born in another country. 56 million of us are aged 65 or older, but our median age is 38.3 years. Approximately 6.3 million of us work in financial services.

In difficult times, it is important to maintain perspective in order to remain hopeful, much like the Mayflower passengers; we must hold steadfast to the belief that the world will improve. In a time where we are concerned for our loved ones, and in an era where we feel nervous, we must remember that back in the time of the Mayflower, the death rate of the newcomers exceeded 50%. At this writing, the COVID-19 death rate per 100,000 population is 0.06%. However, with tragedy comes a sense of gratitude for what we do have, for what kindness exists in the world. And, we hold hope for a vaccine, we have appreciation for our medical workers who treat those who are need, we gather to help strangers and neighbors, alike. Overall, this is a time to come together—we can experience this as an opportunity to unite.

Perspective helps us process the deaths of more than 196,000 Americans at this writing. With a changing world, twenty-nine million of us are receiving some type of unemployment assistance and many more have had hours or pay cut and income slashed. We have become adaptable as a significant number of children can only go to school online, but some are unsupervised and others have only limited access to the internet and learning. Small businesses are closing by the thousands in cities and small towns—some transitioning to an online model with the evolution of these times. On top of all of this, hurricanes and floods have battered the people of the southeast and megafires have destroyed nearly five million acres in the West. After six-plus months, we see some pockets of recovery but much of the nation is exhausted, numbed, or in a state of shock. The luckier among us gripe about inconveniences: gyms and salons closed, lost vacations, reunions and celebrations postponed. But at night, most of us toss and turn, worry about our college students, our parents in health care facilities, a second wave of illness, our weight, our retirement, the vaccines being rushed to market, how long we can postpone medical tests and procedures, whether our vote will count in November. Life has changed dramatically for many in these past seven months.

The financial markets are always looking to the future and the view from Wall Street is still much rosier than the one from Main Street right now. Investors have come to look to the Federal Reserve as the Rock of Gibraltar, a veritable Pillar of Hercules – a mythical point once marking the limit to the known world, now widely viewed as our barrier to unthinkable loss. So far so good. But the Fed can only loan money. So, state and local governments and markets have also looked to Washington for fiscal relief. Again: so far so good. Maybe too good. Federal spending topped $6 trillion for the first time last month and the federal deficit has topped $3 trillion for the first time; Congressional appropriators are discussing even more fiscal spending but cannot reach agreement. Eventually, they will have to take the scissors to the budget, but for now we are in historic spending mode. The President has taken certain executive actions, and perhaps no more legislative is necessary or possible until after the elections, so it is to the unelected officials of the central bank that we look for any further immediate relief if needed. 

The Fed’s monetary policy committee, the Open Market Committee, met this week for the 8th time this year and provided reassurance that they will be accommodative, hold interest rates at rock-bottom levels through 2023 and basically do whatever else is required for our economy. Economic data show that we have regained at least half of the loss of output so we may see third quarter gross domestic product above 25%. CNN and Moody’s Analytics have teamed up to produce a “Back-to-Normal” Index that actually shows the U.S. at 80% of pre-pandemic levels.

Despite the pandemic-induced recession and pain experienced across virtually every sector, the S&P 500 is up 5.27% this year, the tech-heavy Nasdaq is up nearly 25%. Gold has gained more than 28%.  The 2-year Treasury has strengthened significantly; its yield has dropped lost 143 basis points and currently stands at 0.13%.  The 2-year municipal general obligation bond yield has fallen 91 basis points to 0.13%. The 10-year Treasury at 0.67% is down 124 basis points. The 10-year muni has decreased 60 basis points to 0.84% and the 10-year Baa corporate bond yield at 2.98% is down 72 basis points.  The 30-year Treasury yield has fallen 95 basis points to 1.43% and the comparable muni yield has shed 51 basis points to stand at 1/58%.

Corporate and municipal borrowers continue to vie for space on the calendar of buyers.  So far this year, tax-exempt muni issuance at $337 billion is up 33% year-over-year. Corporate bond issuance as a whole totaled $210 billion in August alone. High yield corporate issuance exceeds $308 billion so far this year, up 74% from 2019.  Mutual fund investors have added a net of $19.2 billion to municipal bond funds, $139.4 billion to investment grade corporate funds and $40.8 billion to high yield corporate funds. With record Treasury issuance this year, outstanding debt at 9/15 totals $26,790,503,839,118.28 and returns are up about 9.31%.

Last week was shortened by the Labor Day holiday but it was by no means a quiet one. HJ Sims underwrote a $107.3 million A-minus rated revenue bond issue for Presbyterian Retirement Communities which we structured with tax-exempt term bonds due in 2055 priced with a coupon of 4.00% to yield 3.10% and taxable bonds due in 2050 priced at 4.00% to yield 4.125%.  Among recent deals on the high yield calendar, there was a $17.1 million BB+ rated California School Finance Authority issue for Classical Academies that had a thirty year term bond priced at 5.00% to yield 3.42%; a $13.3 million Ba1 rated Public Finance Authority financing for KIPP Charlotte that included 35-year term bond priced at 5.00% to yield 4.50%;  and a $10.3 million BB+ rated New Hope Cultural Education Facilities Finance Corporation issue for Southwest Preparatory Academy in San Antonio that came with a 2050 maturity priced at 5.00% to yield 4.00%.

This week, Plymouth, Minnesota has a $41.7 million general obligation bond sale planned. Local Massachusetts news reports that Plymouth Rock, the Landing Place of the Pilgrims, the symbol of our country’s first hardships and struggles, a representation of our freedom and desires for a better life, an international attraction typically drawing a million tourists every year, has unfortunately been vandalized for the second time in one week. Yet, we persevere.

There are only 54 days to Election Day (at the time of this writing). We can tell by the attack ads on TV, the robo calls, the mailers, the endorsements, the increasingly slanted campaign coverage from all sides. The fight is often framed in terms of Democrats versus Republicans, conservatives versus. liberals, progressives versus moderates, left versus right, Red versus Blue, incumbents versus challengers, the Coasts versus the Heartland, or Us versus Them. It is said to be the most important election ever, once again. And, as the sportscaster in Rocky IV exclaimed, “It’s a gutter war – no holds barred!”  On the presidential ballot, we do not hear much about the fifteen third party and independent candidates. So, for those taking due diligence seriously, it may seem that considering all the alternatives, the choices are more difficult. But, as the big day draws nearer, our choices dramatically narrow to essentially two as we examine our options from the perspective of our vested interests to either find the candidate who will best represent us or “pick the lesser of the evils” as some believe. As Henry Kissinger once said, “The absence of alternatives clears the mind marvelously.” Speaking of alternatives…

The alternative minimum tax (AMT) and the ordinary income tax are two parallel income tax systems in the U.S. The former was enacted in 1969 by Congress after the public became outraged to learn that a significant number of higher income filers had so many itemized deductions that they paid no income tax. So, to ensure that everyone pays what is viewed as their “fair share,” taxpayers must calculate their taxes under each system and pay whichever is higher. But, since the AMT was not indexed for inflation until 2013, over time more and more retirees and middle class taxpayers became subject to the higher rate. About five million filers were paying the AMT in 2017 when the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act was enacted. The new law applies to tax years 2018 to 2025. It increases the AMT exemption (generally $113,400 for married couples in 2020), indexes it to inflation, and sets the income levels at which the exemptions phase out at much higher levels (generally $1,036,800 for married couples filing jointly in 2020). Many of the tax breaks that triggered the AMT for middle class taxpayers have been changed, so there needs to be quite a few tax preference items to trigger it. These include incentive stock options, a large amount of long-term capital gains, some types of accelerated depreciation, and interest on private activity bonds. Fewer than 200,000 households are now impacted and corporations are no longer exposed to AMT liabilities.

Income from private activity bonds that fund private company projects that benefit the public such as stadiums, airline terminals, and solid waste facilities may be subject to the AMT, meaning that interest income would be taxed at the applicable AMT rate. This could be 26% or 28%. That would be a major hit to muni yields already at or near historic lows. It is easy to tell if a bond is subject to the alternative minimum tax. Since 1986 it has been required that a tax attorney provide an opinion stating whether or not the interest on each muni bond is a tax-preference item subject to the AMT. The opinion is clearly printed on the cover of each official statement. Investors must read any muni bond fund prospectus more carefully. Some funds, including Vanguard’s, may invest as much as 20% of their assets in private activity bonds so a portion of their income distributions may be subject to the AMT.

Investors are advised to speak with their tax advisors before buying bonds, or funds with bonds, that are subject to the AMT.  For those who are not subject and not likely to become subject, we encourage you to contact your HJ Sims advisor.  AMT bonds can offer some incremental yield pickup in the range of 20 basis points in the current market. They also provide access to different sectors of the muni market such as pollution control projects, student loans, single-family housing, and public-private venture expressways.  Among major issuers of both AMT and non-AMT bonds are the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and the City and County of Denver, Colorado. Last week, The New York Transportation Development Corporation issued $1.51 billion of Baa3 rated special facilities revenue bonds subject to the AMT for the Delta Air Lines Terminal C and D redevelopment project at LaGuardia Airport. The 2045 term bonds priced at 4.375% to yield 4.55%.

HJ Sims was in the market last week with a $134.9 million Palm Beach County Health Facilities Authority bond issue for the Toby and Leon Cooperman Sinai Residences of Boca Raton expansion. We structured the non-rated Series A bonds with a 2055 maturity priced at 5.00% to yield 4.60%. The Series B-1 bonds due in 2027 were priced at 3.00% to yield 3.05%, the Series B-2 bonds due in 2025 were priced at 2.625% to yield 2.75%, and the Series C taxable bonds due in 2024 had a 3.875% coupon priced to yield 4.00%. Among other senior living financings, the Economic Development Corporation of the City of Grand Rapids and the Michigan Strategic Fund brought $47.1 million of BBB-minus rated refundings for United Methodist Retirement Communities and Porter Hills Presbyterian Village with final maturities in 2044 priced at 5.00% to yield 3.88%.

This week’s muni calendar is expected to total $7 billion but the investment grade corporate market may see as much as $50 billion of new issues.. At this writing, the 2-year AAA municipal general obligation bond yield stands at 0.15% versus the 2-year Treasury at 0.14%. The 10-year muni benchmark is at 0.83% while the comparable Treasury yield is 0.68%.  The 30-year tax-exempt yield is 1.57% and the Treasury is lower at 1.43%. The 10-year A rated corporate bond yields 2.22%. Stocks are weaker for the third session, sinking to a four-week low. Oil at $36.87 a barrel has fallen to prices last seen in mid-June. Gold at $1,930 an ounce is 6% off its record August high. This week’s economic calendar includes Job Openings, the Producer and Consumer Price Indices. The Senate returns from recess to vote on an alternative stimulus measure and the nation pauses on Friday, the 19th anniversary of September 11 to honor the memory of those lost and pay tribute to heroes we will never forget.

We live in a world where every inch of our body is subjected to atmospheric pressure of about 14.7 pounds per square inch (psi) at sea level. We don’t do well with abrupt increases, but if the pressure rises gradually, we are able to tolerate a lot more — something even in the range of 400 psi. There are, of course, other pressures placed upon us: pressures to be perfect, to be successful, to fit in, to be fit. From physics, we recall that the only characteristic of pressure is magnitude. From life, we know that magnitude fluctuates and that it often cannot be controlled.

For six months now, governmental policies developed in response to the pandemic have placed unprecedented pressures on individuals, families, groups, businesses, and communities. Some are folding under the pressure, other have exploded, some have adapted, others thrive. Some take medication for relief, others find release in other forms: prayer, kickboxing, community service, grants, loans, forbearance. Many state and local governments and other enterprises working with shaky budgets are unwilling to accept what may be permanent changes in revenues and expenses, and hold their breath for a fifth windfall from Washington. Financial markets, on the other hand, have enjoyed 11 years of monetary policy windfalls in the form of low rates, frequent injections of liquidity, and an ever-expanding balance sheet. So far, none have cracked under the strain of record levels of debt issuance by the U.S. Treasury and American corporations, the worst collapse in GDP in our history, 27 million unemployment claims, hundreds of bankruptcy filings, $26.7 trillion of national debt, a $4 trillion federal budget deficit, $110 billion of state budget shortfalls, and unfunded pension liabilities of $1.62 trillion. Quite to the contrary.

S&P 500 has more than fully recovered from the March coronavirus lockdown shock and is up 8.3% on the year to 3,500 as of August 31. The Nasdaq is up a staggering 31% in 2020 to 11,775. Gold has gained 30% and is now priced at 1,971 an ounce. The 2-year Treasury yield at 0.13% has plummeted 143 basis points. The 10-year is down 121 basis points to 0.70%. The 30-year at 1.47% is 91 basis points lower. The 10-year BAA corporate bond yield has fallen 68 basis point to 3.02%. In the tax-free sector, the 2-year AAA municipal general obligation bond yield has dropped 88 basis points to 0.16%, the 10-year is down 63 basis point to 0.81% and the 30-yield has fallen 53 basis points to 1.56%.

Last week, the Fed indicated that it will continue to monitor the pressure gauge, remaining accommodative regarding rates and tolerating periods of higher inflation in order to focus on keeping unemployment low. The forward-looking stock market, full of optimism for coronavirus treatments and vaccines and pleased with the better than expected economic data, continued to rally. But inflation is not welcome in the lexicon of bondbuyers, so a pressure switch was triggered.. Municipals and Treasuries both weakened; for tax-exempts, it was the third consecutive week of higher yields. Muni investors, flush with cash from more than $47 billion of maturing and called bonds in August added a total of $9.5 billion to mutual funds and ETFs despite increasing credit concerns. On the month, Treasury returns fell 1.20%. The general muni market as measured by the ICE BofAML Municipal Index lost 0.34% while the High Yield Index gained 0.42%. So far this year, Treasuries are up 9.02%, munis are up 3.25%, taxable munis are up 10.45%, and corporate bonds with maturities of 15 year and longer are up 9.05%.

Primary municipal bond volume in August exceeded $40 billion for the third straight month, propelled by $12.6 billion of taxable issuance. In the high yield sector, the Hastings Campus Housing Authority in California sold $406.8 million of non-rated bonds with a final maturity that went all the way out to 2061 priced at 5.00% to yield 4.95%. The Public Finance Authority issued $73.2 million of non-rated bonds for Whitestone Senior Living in Greensboro, North Carolina structured with 2055 term bonds priced at 5.25% to yield 4.56%, and a $20.8 million non-rated transaction for Pine Springs Preparatory Academy in Holly Springs, North Carolina that had 2055 term bonds priced at 6.25% to yield 6.618%. The North Carolina Medical Care Commission came to market with a $47.8 million non-rated deal for Pennybyrn at Maryfield that included a 2050 maturity priced with a 5% coupon to yield 4.09%. The Arizona Industrial Development Authority brought a $28.5 million non-rated financing for Linder Village in Meridian, Idaho with a single maturity in 2031 priced at 5.00% to yield 5.245%.

This week, HJ Sims is in the market with a $135.8 million expansion financing for the Toby & Leon Cooperman Sinai Residences of Boca Raton. The non-rated bonds are being issued by the Palm Beach County Health Facilities Authority and are structured with maturities in 2024, 2025, 2027, and 2055. Among other deals planned for this week is a $1.3 billion Baa3/BB+ New York Transportation Development Corporation issue for Delta Airlines at LaGuardia Airport Terminals C & D, a $274 million Southern Ohio Port Authority financing for PureCycle, a $162 million BBB/BB+ rated Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority deal for McCormick Place, a $48.2 million BBB- rated Michigan Strategic Fund/Grand Rapids Economic Development Corporation transaction for Porter Hills Presbyterian Village, and a $16.5 million BB+ rated California School Finance Authority financing for Classical Academies.

Markets will be closed on Monday as America takes the long Labor Day weekend to decompress and celebrate the many contributions made by its workforce of 160 million to the strength and prosperity of our nation. We hold closest in our thoughts the 27+ million who are unemployed and under employed as a result of the pandemic and hope that, with the help of personal and professional networks, that their searches are soon successful and talents again rewarded.

The first American post office was located in a bar in Boston, and no one who studies American history would be surprised to learn this. The historic 1639 site has since been replaced many times over and is now home to a 42-floor skyscraper of mixed office and residential use in the downtown area. So, Hinsdale, New Hampshire now holds the record for the country’s oldest continuously operating post office, a clapboard structure on Main Street that still boasts the original brass postal boxes. That location is one of 31,322 currently managed by the United States Postal Service, an independent agency of the Executive Branch, with roots dated back to 1792 when first authorized by the U.S. Constitution. Its 630,000 employees handle 48% of the world’s mail volume, operate one of the largest civilian fleets on the planet with nearly 228,000 vehicles, and place itself at the core of a $1.6 trillion mail industry with more than 7.3 million workers.

There has been a lot of attention focused of late on this agency and its prominent, perhaps integral, role in the coming elections. If many of us decide not to vote in-person at polling sites, as expected, will it be able to process millions of mail-in ballots securely and on time? Under the post 9/11 Mail Cover Program, they already photograph the front and back of every piece of U.S. mail as part of the sorting process, and we currently entrust them to handle 471 million pieces of mail every day, 36 million of our annual address changes, and 80 million of our money orders. Many of our local postal workers are highly trusted as neighbors and friends, better known to us than are any other government representatives, relied upon for critically needed deliveries. In the early days of parcel post, even children were “mailed” back and forth between parents and grandparents on rural routes. But, over the years, the postal mission of serving the public good was in large part intertwined with a business model that has become outdated by technology. It is seen by some as a poster child for mismanagement, a target for privatization, or a black hole unworthy of further taxpayer subsidies.

Ben Franklin was the first U.S. Postmaster General and Louis DeJoy is the 75th to hold that role. DeJoy is the second highest paid government official after the President and, since June, has presided over the nation’s largest retail network — bigger than McDonald’s, Starbucks and Walmart combined – paying $2 billion in salaries and benefits every two weeks, overseeing one of the nation’s oldest law enforcement agencies, straining under losses of $2.2 billion between April and June, $11 billion of debt, and Congressionally imposed limits on rate increases as well as requirements for pre-funding retiree health benefits. DeJoy, a CPA and former logistics executive, was just hauled before several Congressional committees in urgent virtual hearings, peppered with questions on his recent policy changes, and led on record to commit to delivering ballots within one to three days of being mailed. He was unable to cite the cost of mailing a postcard (35 cents) but was thankfully not asked to try and recite the famous words engraved on the front of New York City’s Farley Post Office: “Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds”, written by the ancient Greek historian Herodotus in the 5th century B.C. in reference to messengers in the Persian Empire.

The House of Representatives came back from recess for a rare Saturday session to pass a bill providing $25 billion in emergency funds for the USPS and halt any changes to its operations until after the November election. The funds would be in addition to the $10 billion loan made by the Treasury in July under a provision of the CARES Act. If additional funds are approved by the Senate and White House, they would likely come in the context of a larger stimulus package on which no consensus has been reached since May. Main Street Americans, many struggling with budgets in the hundreds and thousands of dollars find it hard to process discussions involving billions and trillions. And yet these numbers pepper the daily headlines. One trillion is a thousand billion. One billion seconds ago, it was 1988. One trillion seconds ago it was roughly 30,000 B.C. A trillion dollars in $100 bills stacked on top of each other would be 789 miles high. A United Nations policy brief projects that the pandemic will cause $1 trillion in losses to the tourism industry. More than $1.4 trillion if investment grade corporate debt has been issued so far this year. Apple’s market capitalization hit $1 trillion in August of 2018 and it topped $2 trillion last week. The U.S. budget deficit has climbed to a record $2.81 trillion. The total size of the municipal market is $3.9 trillion. The stock market has surged by $13 trillion since its March 23 low; at this writing, the S&P 500 at 3,456 and Nasdaq at 11,589 have risen to record highs. The Chinese economy totals $14 trillion and the U.S. economy totals $21 trillion. Governments and central banks have already committed $20 trillion to pandemic relief efforts The U.S. debt exceeds $26.5 trillion. Assets in U.S. funded and private pension plans exceeded $32 trillion in 2019. The largest banknote on record, 100 Trillion, was issued in Zimbabwe in 2008 at the peak of a hyperinflationary period; it was worth $33 on the black market.

The International Capital Markets Association estimates the size of the global bond market at $128.3 trillion. Bond traders, however, are working with yields that are microscopic. At this writing, the 10-year Treasury yields 0.71%. The comparable sovereign yield in Japan is 0.03%, in the United Kingdom, Spain, and Portugal it is about 0.30%, in Canada it is 0.62%, in France -0.12%, in Germany -0.41%, and in Switzerland -0.47%. The 10-year top-rated tax-exempt municipal general obligation bond yields 0.75%. The U.S. can-maker Ball Corporation recently made history by selling 10-year BB+ rated bonds at 2.875%, the lowest coupon ever in the high yield market for a bond with a tenor of 5 years or longer, according to Bloomberg. There is some nice yield, however, to be found in the U.S. corporate and municipal markets for those able to tolerate some credit and duration risk.

At HJ Sims, neither price trends nor fund flow levels nor light dealer inventories nor lack of primary supply stays our traders from the hunt for and swift execution of purchases and sales for our income-seeking clients. We scour the high yield muni and corporate markets for our clients and offer opportunities to those who contact us with their interests and risk guidelines. Last week, the Tarrant County Cultural Education Facilities Finance Corporation brought a $131.4 million non-rated deal for MRC Stevenson Oaks in Fort Worth that featured 2055 term bonds priced at par to yield 6.875%. The Massachusetts Development Finance Agency had a $56.6 million BB+ rated financing for Milford Regional Medical Center that had a final maturity in 2046 priced with a coupon of 5.00% to yield 3.27%. The Florida Development Finance Corporation issued $14.4 million of non-rated bonds for UCP Charter Schools structured with 2050 term bonds priced at 5.00% to yield 4.70%. The City of Topeka had a $12.4 million non-rated financing for senior service provider Midland Care that included 20-year tax-exempt bonds priced at par to yield 4.00%.

This week, more schools re-open with hybrid learning plans, the world’s foremost economists gather for the first virtual Jackson Hole symposium, and the first virtual Republican National Convention convenes a week after the first virtual Democratic National Convention. U.S. and Chinese trade officials meet, riots continue to upend cities from Portland to Kenosha to New York, and Hurricane Laura threatens our citizens in Texas and Louisiana. There are now more than 179,023 deaths associated with CV-19 in the US. As this summer comes to an end, our thoughts, prayers, and good wishes are with all of the students, families, caretakers, healthcare providers, government officials, party leaders, legislators, thinkers, negotiators, public safety officials, businesses, associations, and market-makers working so hard to help us endure and transcend this pandemic.