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| Bonds Online |
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| 5/10/2013Market Performance |
| Municipal Bonds |
|---|
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S&P National Bond Index
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3.00% |
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S&P California Bond Index
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2.96% |
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S&P New York Bond Index
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3.13% |
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S&P National 0-5 Year Municipal Bond Index
|
0.70% |
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| S&P/BGCantor US Treasury Bond |
400.09 |
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| More |
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| Income Equities: |
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| Preferred Stocks |
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S&P U.S. Preferred Stock Index
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848.03 |
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S&P U.S. Preferred Stock Index (CAD)
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636.26 |
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S&P U.S. Preferred Stock Index (TR)
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1,701.05 |
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S&P U.S. Preferred Stock Index (TR) (CAD)
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1,276.26 |
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| REITs |
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S&P REIT Index
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174.07 |
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S&P REIT Index (TR)
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425.30 |
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| MLPs |
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S&P MLP Index
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2,469.58 |
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S&P MLP Index (TR)
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5,428.50 |
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See Data
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Will the Muni-Bond Rally Survive 2012? |
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL - Nov. 28, 2011 - By Ben Levisohn
After a dismal start to the year, few asset classes have rallied as much as municipal bonds.
The iShares S&P National AMT-Free Municipal Bond fund has gained 10.6% this year, while the average intermediate municipal-bond fund gained about 7%, more than the average intermediate government bond fund, which gained 6.1%, according to Morningstar.
A number of factors are behind the strong numbers. The wave of defaults that had been predicted at the beginning of the year have yet to emerge; municipalities issued far fewer bonds than they had in previous years, placing a premium on those that did come to market; and Treasury yields plummeted, pulling the yields of all safe-seeming bonds lower with them. And even a pair of potentially devastating events—the bankruptcy filing of Jefferson County, Ala. and the spike in European government bond yields—haven’t caused investors to start selling.
So what could derail this feel-good story in 2012? Here are a few thoughts:
The Mainstreaming of Chapter 9 Bankruptcy: Most observers have always thought of Chapter 9 bankruptcy as something to be avoided. The process is interminable—Vallejo, Calif., only emerged from bankruptcy this year after filing in 2008—and it usually doesn’t solve the financial problems that got it there in the first place. But when Jefferson County, Ala., filed for Chapter 9, it “headed in a more interesting direction than the market would like,” wrote Municipal Market Advisors’ Matt Fabian and Lisa Washburn in a Nov. 21 note. The insolvent county has filed “petitions to wrest control of its asset s from the receiver and the trustee,” they wrote, that “if approved by the court, would only encourage other issuers to seek protection under Chapter 9.” The end result, they say, could end up hitting revenue bonds particularly hard if investors and portfolio managers decide they should be discounted for the risk of more Chapter 9s.
For the complete article.
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| Stuff to look at |
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| BondsOnline Advisor |
Income Security Recommendation January 2013 Issue.
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