Muni Market Faces Early Credit Problems as Covid Aid Sunsets

-- Credit quality in the $4 trillion municipal bond market is showing early signs of pressure as federal pandemic aid winds down, spurring expectations that the rapid pace of rating upgrades over downgrades in recent years will ease.The End of the Cheap Money Era Catches Up to Chelsea FC’s OwnerRevenue growth is slowing, and in states such as California tax and fee collections are dropping.

Conversely, the airport sector is showing strength, as are essential service providers such as water, sewer and electric utilities, said Peter Block, managing director for credit strategy at Ramirez & Co. He anticipates pockets of credit stress will arrive. Utilities have seen “a lot of downgrades,” while education, including charter schools, and healthcare currently have net downgrades by S&P, he said.

The vast majority of issuers “are well positioned to weather an economic downturn,” and more upgrades may occur given rating actions often lag, Nathan Will, head of municipal credit research at Vanguard Fixed Income Group, said in an email. Vanguard “would expect that the upgrade trend will slow as the economy cools and the remainder of pandemic aid is spent.

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NEW YORK — Michael Cohen asked the Supreme Court on Wednesday to reopen his lawsuit against Donald Trump, former Attorney General Bill Barr, and others for jailing him in 2020 when he refused not to criticize the then-president under house arrest. In his request for review, the former Trump fixer asked the justices to revive the case dismissed in January and decide “whether there is any ...

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