Posts Tagged ‘Municipal bond’

What? Municipals on Top?!

January 15th, 2016 by Kurt L. Smith

Happy New Year! Municipal bonds were one of the best performing asset classes for 2015*. That doesn’t happen often (ever?)! Municipal bonds didn’t post stellar returns but compared to the sub-par performance of almost every other asset class, municipal bonds came out on top.

Obviously we don’t invest in municipal bonds because we think they will be the top performing asset class each year. We like the income, particularly tax-free income. Municipal bonds may not have the sex appeal of other, perhaps higher yielding investments but they also do not have some of the risks. In this era of low (to no) interest rates we have seen others chasing yields in all kinds of asset classes from master limited partnerships (MLPs) to high yield junk bonds and even in higher dividend stocks.

2015 saw some investments for yield really take it on the chin. According to The Alerian MLP Index, Master Limited Partnerships (MLPs) as an asset class lost about forty percent of their value last year.** Forty percent is enough to whack off many years of projected income and price fluctuation is but one of the risks associated with MLPs. Sure the yield (income) investors were hoping to grab is still there…unless the MLP cuts the dividend rate, another risk associated with MLPs. No doubt MLPs performed well for many years prior to 2015, but then, bam, the trend moves in another direction leaving MLP investors to try and salvage their investment. (more…)

Same Old, Same Old

May 23rd, 2015 by Kurt L. Smith

Times, they may be a changin’, but it is difficult to tell by watching the bond market. New issues usually dominate bond market news and that continues to be the case. Corporate bond issuance continues on a tear while municipal bond issuance focuses on refinancings. Interest rates remain low. (more…)

Municipals, Bonds Without Peers

April 21st, 2015 by Kurt L. Smith

When will the Federal Reserve raise interest rates? This is the question investors want to know. Yet I will tell you, it does not matter. The market tells us interest rates began to rise in 2012; the market will tell us how fast interest rates rise from here. (more…)

Another Step Closer

September 5th, 2014 by Kurt L. Smith

Another month, another Letter. I appreciate your readership, particularly in these times of seeming sameness. No body likes to throw cold water on good times, my self included. (more…)

Stocks, Bonds & Optimism

August 8th, 2014 by Kurt L. Smith

Years ago, in the middle of the raging bull market of the late 1990s, I taught a bond class in SMU’s continuing education program. One notable feature I highlighted in the class was how bond performance had matched stock performance since the beginning of the bull market in the early 1980s.

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“Welcome To The Everything Boom”

July 20th, 2014 by Kurt L. Smith

The July Letter almost didn’t make it as the same old, same old markets continued their gravity defying ways. On July 7th however, The New York Times saw fit to publish this headline as their front-page lead: “From Stocks to Farmland, All’s Booming, or Bubbling.” (more…)

The Mood of Municipal Bonds

June 2nd, 2014 by Kurt L. Smith

When one thinks of municipal bonds, generally the next thought is…boring. Bonds are usually boring; adding municipal to the mix should make them more so. Bonds have a job to do and for most of the past several decades they have performed. Primarily we have the trend to thank. (more…)

Scratching & Clawing

April 8th, 2014 by Kurt L. Smith

My firm belief that market conditions will (eventually) change gives me the optimism to approach each day as if today is that day. Then comes my monthly Municipal Market Letter writing day and of course it seems as if nothing has changed…ever. The first quarter of 2014 is gone and what has changed? While I know that this is not altogether true, the mileposts seem to be moving hardly at all. (more…)

A Point & Click World

March 7th, 2014 by Kurt L. Smith

I found myself thinking I have lived through this time before. Stocks are at all-time highs (again), homes are being torn down for new ones (again), internet stocks and their firms are cool (or hot, again) and the idea of trading municipal bonds via point and click is not only a reality but seemingly continues to gain momentum. (more…)

The Great Wait May Be Over

February 11th, 2014 by Kurt L. Smith

The optimism, the good news, the earnings reports and everything else wonderful has culminated in the beautiful rise in stock prices. Climbing the Wall of Worry? There is no worry as this one way freight train moves only in one direction smashing all the remaining bears with it. (more…)

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