Powell may provide clues about rate cuts at Jackson Hole, economists say

Federal Reserve Board Chair Jerome Powell's much-anticipated speech at the Jackson Hole symposium should offer clues about the Fed's thinking ahead of its September meeting, but with limits, economists said. "Fed watchers will be parsing Powell's comments for signs that a 50bp rate cut is on the table for September," noted Lauren Saidel-Baker, an economist with ITR Economics. "However, the notoriously tight-lipped chair is unlikely to confirm this, making a 25bp cut the most likely outcome."

From politics to disclosure to funding, the changing climate challenges muni issuers. Learn more in our Climate Spotlight 2024 package.

Municipal bond issuers in the Midwest sold a bit more debt in the first half of 2024 than they did a year earlier, but the region largely missed out on big gains in bond volume nationwide. "It's one of the most noticeable years we've had in terms of how much the Midwest is lagging the country in new issuance," said Richard Ciccarone, president emeritus of Merritt Research Services.

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Although charter school bonds seem to naturally lend themselves to a social label, there are inherent risks to taking that step. "One of the biggest questions that often come up is, what are the qualification requirements of being a social bond?" said Ryan Callender, a partner at Squire Patton Boggs. "Unfortunately, there's really no one answer to that."??

Watch what the municipal bond industry’s innovators and influencers are saying in our Leaders series of video interviews. Check out our lineup of future live interviews and archived conversations.

The National Association of Bond Lawyers will award Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger, D-Md., the Bernard P. Friel Medal and David Cholst the Frederick O. Kiel Distinguished Service Award for their individual contributions to NABL and to the industry over the last four decades. They will be given out during NABL's The Workshop 2024, held in Chicago Sept. 18-20.

Advance rates are available for The Bond Buyer’s California Public Finance conference, coming to San Francisco in October.

Municipals were mixed in secondary trading, as $1.8 billion of GOs from New York City came to market in two series, U.S. Treasury yields fell and equities ended up. Several Federal Open Market Committee members saw a case to cut interest rates by 25 basis points in July, according to minutes of the July 30-31 minutes, setting the stage for a move in September.

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