In this video briefing, Ronald Bernardi summarizes the key points of the market update below. The three prevailing bond market themes during the first half of 2010 were alternately annoying and unnervingly consistent: 1. Annoyingly low, nominal yields. 2. Unnerving, sporadic credit scares. 3. Unnerving liquidity concerns. […]
In recent months, we have often heard the refrain from investors, “I’m just going to wait until interest rates rise.” and, in fact, many investors are waiting for Federal Reserve policy makers to raise interest rates before committing money to the bond market. This attitude is understandable given the Federal Funds rate has been held […]
In this two-part video briefing, Ronald Bernardi summarizes the key points of the President’s Letter below. The 2009 municipal bond market was much kinder and gentler than the 2008 version and, as a result, some investors are falling back into the pre-2008 malaise: making uninformed or spur-of-the-moment investment decisions often based upon inadequate information. Recently […]
Michelle Bernardi Landis summarizes the key points of the President’s Letter below. There have been many news stories recently regarding the municipal bond market and its impending debt crisis. Most of them have been unnerving and intimidating. Many of these sensational news stories are warranted while many are overblown and will be played out in […]
Last month I was invited to participate in an hour-long discussion hosted and aired live by InvestmentNews, Muni Markets: Maneuvering Through the Minefield. The content was wide-ranging and lively. Over the past few years, we have written about a number of the topics discussed, while other issues covered by the group offered new material to […]
August 2012 To our Clients: In recent months there have been a number of high profile failures of commodity investment firms. MF Global and Peregrine Financial have been in the news and are charged with misuse of customer funds. These events highlight the differences in the way the commodities industry and the broker-dealer industry are […]
John Wood College of Illinois Community College District #539 successfully completed an $800,000 General Obligation, Alternate Revenue Source transaction on April 5, 2012. Located in western Illinois approximately 105 miles west of Springfield, Illinois, the district covers about 2,363 square miles and serves a population of roughly 95,000. The bonds were issued to finance the […]
“You could see 50 sizable defaults, 50 to 100 sizable defaults, more. This will amount to hundreds of billions of dollars worth of defaults.” – “60 Minutes”, Meredith Whitney commentary, December 2010 “The notion that many bond investors have that all municipal bonds are equally secure is at best, a silly one and at […]
The City of Kewanee, Illinois successfully completed a $3.755 million general obligation, alternate revenue source transaction on January 15, 2012. Located in northwestern Illinois, the city has a population of approximately 13,000 as of 2010 census data. The bonds were issued to provide funds for various infrastructure improvements including street repairs, sewer and water main […]
Bernardi Securities, Inc. was mentioned in the following news story – City gets a good deal on bond issue.