Posts Tagged ‘Municipal bond’

High Prices Be Damned

December 20th, 2013 by Kurt L. Smith

For some things in life, the price is the price. You must pay it because you have to or you need to pay it. With one son in college and another on his way next year, I know all about prices one must pay. Some people look at investing the same way: the cost is the price one must pay. (more…)

Great Success

November 11th, 2013 by Kurt L. Smith

The financial markets spent most of October peaking so why should I add my usual dose of downer? Instead, in the spirit of thanks and Thanksgiving, why not look back at some of our successes and revisit why we choose the path we do. (more…)

The Fed Chooses To Punt

October 7th, 2013 by Kurt L. Smith

The Federal Reserve Board chose to do more of the same in September and will continue to buy bonds at a $1 Trillion annual pace. All that hub-bub earlier in the summer about pulling back, now coined as tapering, well you can just forget that. The Stock market is at recovery highs and why rock the boat? (more…)

Exceptional Exceptions

August 30th, 2013 by Kurt L. Smith

In a world that includes dozens of US Treasury bond issues (but just one credit) or hundreds of Corporate bond issuers, Municipal bonds offer tens of thousands of different credits, terms and conditions. It is these differences, rather than their similarities, between issuers and issuances that account for the robustness of the municipal bond market. (more…)

Joining The Fray

June 28th, 2013 by Kurt L. Smith

Bond market performance has gone from bad to worse. The month of May was bad; June even worse. Prices of longer-term bond funds have plunged, primarily in the past eight weeks, leaving municipal bond dealers and longer-term municipal bond portfolios down about ten percent for the period. (more…)

On The Right Track

June 10th, 2013 by Kurt L. Smith

In an era of seemingly low to no interest rates, we see an increase in opportunities in municipal bonds. Despite continuing Quantitative Easing by the Federal Reserve, asset prices are weakening, yields are rising and long-term assumptions should be questioned. (more…)

Wash, Rinse, Repeat

March 8th, 2013 by Kurt L. Smith

Stocks are cheap! Compared to Bonds, Stocks are cheap, but then again, everything is cheap compared to Bonds. This is the narrative driving Stock prices to multi-year and even all-time highs. Enjoy while you can but this narrative has no legs, despite the desires of all the central banks on the planet. (more…)

No, It Won’t Be Like This Forever

February 11th, 2013 by Kurt L. Smith

Sure short-term interest rates are near zero; nothing new here. But the good news, albeit great news, is we continue to find worthwhile, short-term municipal bonds. In a world of generic, too-big-to-fail, debt by the billions, you can thank a very diverse, too-many-issuers-to-count municipal bond market for these opportunities.

(more…)

It’s The Fed, Unfortunately

January 6th, 2013 by Kurt L. Smith

Looking back over the past year the defining point for the markets was Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke’s missive in September. Asset prices peaked with Ben’s pronouncement. Animal spirits are now dissipating. The reversal eventually sent Municipal Bond prices to their high November 30th, along with my proclamation that Municipal Bonds were in bubble territory, heading for a big fall.