Munis close quiet ahead of Fed week

Munis were little changed on Friday as U.S. Treasuries richened slightly and equities ended mixed.

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The Justice Department closed its criminal probe of outgoing Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. The investigation had been holding up the confirmation of Kevin Warsh to replace Powell; ending it will help the markets “cut down on the noise” heading into next week’s Fed meeting, said Tom Kozlik, head of municipal strategy at HilltopSecurities.

“What the market’s really trying to figure out is what that Warsh regime is going to mean,” Kozlik said. “Folks are really trying to position their mindsets, position their portfolios.”

New-issue calendar
Issuance for the week of April 27 is an estimated $7.193 billion, with $5.242 billion of negotiated deals on tap and $1.951 billion of competitives.

The Massachusetts Development Finance Authority leads the negotiated calendar with $1.404 billion of revenue bonds on behalf of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

The competitive calendar is led by Delaware with $450.485 million of GOs in two series.