Mid-year and Mid-term Pressures It has become especially clear that the mid-term implications are beginning to become more critical to what will unfold in the weeks ahead. The push for more reforms and more funding from the Democratic side of the Congress has largely...

Finding Positives in a Down Market Before we head out to the fireworks, I always find it helpful to take the step back and to reassess. No one is debating that it has been an incredibly challenging year for municipals. The outflows from the mutual funds have resumed...

Smart Cities Progress I had the pleasure during my Columbia reunion to hear a lecture by Professor Smyth and colleagues in the Engineering School on the developments in the quest for Smart Cities technology. It was quite refreshing to be hearing about a positive in...

Uneasy Times The employment read released today was at +390,000 employed and the unemployment rate was unchanged. Despite the strong reading, albeit it was under 400,000, equities traded off and rates were trending moderately higher. Some of the other surrounding...

Modicum of Relief The tone this week has changed radically from the negativity that prevailed last week. A couple of notables have been weighing in that the economy is not broken and in fact it is continuing to perform well. Wages are up and many jobs continue to go...

The confidence in financial markets has long ago evaporated at this point. Collectively we are attempting to find our way, but there are many obstacles. The major market indices continue to find fresh lows. M&A deals that were easy to accomplish in the...

We continue to receive weighty news in the negative direction. Not much relief is in sight on the horizon. On the inflation front, we continue to run hot at the 8.3% mark. Breaking down the components also does not glean much positive news. It is hard to say exactly...

As Humphrey Bogart once said: “Well everybody in Casablanca has problems. Yours may work out.” The current market has us all feeling this way. We must find the way to the light. Among the myriad factors affecting markets are the Fed, the war in Ukraine, ultra-high...

Sharp Turns Ongoing in Municipals We have a lot of uncertainties in the market that we are dealing with at present. The war in Ukraine, equity volatility, federal funding anticipated declines, the Fed and many more. Concerning the Fed we do have more clarity as of...