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This study investigates whether religion-induced risk aversion affects municipal bond market outcomes from 1990 to 2017. The results indicate that local government bonds issued from U.S. counties with a high Catholic-to-Protestant population ratio have lower credit risk ratings and lower yield spreads, and are less likely to have credit enhancement. The results stand up to additional tests. I control for issuer's county political party affiliation and state term limits, and continue to find significant effects. The effects are not driven by the issuer's county fiscal policies. Furthermore, the effects persist when I use an alternate specification that controls for omitted factors that are time invariant. Overall, my evidence suggests that a bond issuer's religion-induced risk aversion plays a significant role in the pricing of local government bonds., 1 | INTRODUCTION State and local government bonds provide funding for critical infrastructure that affects daily lives. These municipal bonds finance airports, roads and highways, bridges, schools, water and sewer [...]

Abstract This paper investigates price violations in credit markets using a data sample spanning from 2002 to 2016. We find that price violations are highly persistent during the crisis period, [...]

Abstract We analyze the determinants of buyout funds' investment decisions. We argue that when there is imperfect competition for private equity funds, the timing of funds' investment decisions, their risk-taking [...]

As the economic expansion has rolled on, a common note of warning from regulators has been expansion of the leveraged loan market and its declining credit standards. Included among the [...]

In the past decade, foreign participation in local-currency bond markets in emerging countries has increased dramatically. We revisit sovereign debt sustainability under the assumptions that countries can borrow internationally using their own currencies and accumulate reserves. As opposed to traditional sovereign debt models, asset-valuation effects occasioned by currency fluctuations act to absorb global shocks and smooth consumption. Countries do not accumulate reserves to be depleted in 'bad' times. Instead, issuing domestic debt while accumulating reserves acts as a hedge against external shocks. A quantitative exercise of the Brazilian economy suggests this strategy to be effective for smoothing consumption and reducing the occurrence of default. JEL Classification F34, 1 Introduction The past decade witnessed the impressive development of domestic government bond markets in emerging market economies (EMEs). Market depth increased, maturities lengthened, and the investor base broadened as [...]

We examine the relation between a firm's equity [R.sup.2] and the pricing and design of its debt securities. We find that firms with less synchronous stock returns are associated with a higher cost of debt after controlling for default and liquidity risks. Bonds issued by low synchronicity issuers also experience larger price reactions to information signals provided by equity analysts. Further analysis demonstrates that lower synchronicity is associated with cross-sectional variation in the use of call provisions and with split S&P and Moody's bond ratings. Contrary to conventional interpretation, these results suggest that low [R.sup.2] reflects inferior information transparency and higher information risk., The economic interpretation of stock return synchronicity (or [R.sup.2]) has engendered considerable debate in recent years. The conventional view (Morck, Yeung, and Yu, 2000; Durnev et al., 2003; Durnev, Morck, [...]

Abstract We study central bank interventions in times of severe distress (mid2010), using a unique bond-level dataset of ECB purchases of Greek sovereign debt. ECB bond buying had a large [...]

While the tax exclusion for municipal bond interest remained intact despite threats of elimination during the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) debate in 2017, the 116th Congress may continue [...]

THE ASSOCIATION OF SOUTHEAST Asian Nations (ASEAN) region needs to increase green investment by 400% each year to protect its people and economies from climate change and other environmental shocks, [...]

Treasury Action: a little more fear is drifting into the bond market with a week to go before the elections. The spikes in the virus in the U.S. and Europe [...]

United Airlines (UAL) is making another attempt at refinancing short-term loans it took out early in the COVID-19 crisis after a similar effort foundered in May, Bloomberg's Davide Scigliuzzo and [...]

Treasury Action: the bond market has gone limp, though is holding small safe haven gains given the various crosscurrents. Yields have been contained inside narrow ranges. The 2-year is steady [...]

Byline: Sophie Baker Success for Democratic candidate Joe Biden in the U.S. presidential election next month could be a boon for the country's green bond market. The global green bond [...]

Treasury Action: the bond market is little changed. The front end is holding a small bid despite the lackluster reception to the 2-year auction and the recovery on Wall Street. [...]

Treasury Action: the bond market is surprisingly inert and unresponsive to the drop in equities. Indeed, yields have edged up from their richest levels earlier. Sources chalk up the lack [...]

Treasury Action: the rally in risk continues to make for a heavy bond market, while the advent of a record $112 B August refunding (versus $96 B in May) should [...]

Treasury Action: the bid has picked up in the bond market as Wall Street tumbles. The 30-year bond yield has richened 4 bps to 1.453%, with the 10-year off 2 [...]

Treasury Action: the bond market is rather inert, as it was yesterday. There's been little movement due to the drop in risk appetite today, or on yesterday's rally on Wall [...]

Treasury Action: the bond market has maintained its bid, largely amid a cautionary trade. The rally has been extended into the afternoon with the 30-year yield now 6.5 bps lower [...]

Treasury Action: rates remain near their richest of the day, with many maturities at or near all-time rich levels. Safe haven demand continues to drive the bond market as stocks [...]

Raymond James analyst Andrew Bradford downgraded Ensign Energy to Underperform from Market Perform with a C$0.35 price target. The analyst says equity investors should note that debt markets aren't sharing [...]

JPMorgan analyst Phil Gresh raised the firm's price target on Occidental Petroleum to $17 from $7 and keeps an Underweight rating on the shares. With the recent recovery in oil [...]

FOMC began its meeting and announces its decision at 14 ET. That will be accompanied by the quarterly projections, and will be followed at 14:30 ET by Chair Powell's press [...]

Imperial Capital analyst Jason Wangler raised the firm's price target on Diamondback Energy to $70 from $55 and keeps an Outperform rating on the shares. The company continues to manage [...]

Credit Suisse analyst Ari Ghosh raised the firm's price target on MarketAxess to $448 from $410 and keeps a Neutral rating on the shares. The analyst looks for MarketAxess' U.S. [...]

Asian Market Update: The 10-year Treasury yield is down 2.7 bp at 0.85%, with bond markets generally supported ahead of the FOMC announcement tomorrow. U.S. stock futures are moving sideways, [...]

Treasury Action: there was little response in the bond market to the 3-year auction which garnered a decent bid. But the market is mostly rallying alongside stocks. The offering overcame [...]

Element Fleet Management announced the closing of its inaugural issue of $400M of U.S. senior unsecured investment-grade notes, the proceeds of which will be used together with cash on hand [...]

Treasury Action: Treasuries are underwater to kick off the new month, with a bear steepening trade weighing on the long end. Bloomberg reports the bond market posted its first monthly [...]

Credit Suisse analyst Kevin McVeigh initiated coverage of S&P Global with an Outperform rating and $345 price target. While the analyst acknowledges uneven debt issuance risk as the credit markets [...]

Credit Suisse analyst Kevin McVeigh initiated coverage of Moody's with an Outperform rating and $285 price target. While the analyst acknowledges uneven debt issuance risk as the credit markets settle [...]

Treasury Market Outlook: stocks are sharply higher globally and U.S. futures are up about 2% as they reopen from Monday's holiday. The DAX has added another 0.7% to yesterday's better [...]

Reports Q1 revenue $195.7M, consensus $175.29M. CEO Jeff Williams says: 'We will keep investing in our business, including recruiting, training, and retention of quality associates. We will be diligent in [...]

Minutes from the last Federal Reserve meeting read, 'Market participants remained very uncertain about the economic outlook, and contacts highlighted an array of remaining risks, including those in corporate credit [...]

Treasury Action: Treasuries are marking time, as is Wall Street. Lack of fresh movers are containing the markets to a small range trade. There's nothing new from either Powell or [...]

Based on week ending May 17 results, the company's ongoing weekly cash burn rate has improved to less than $10M including capital expenditures. Given the increased confidence in our cash [...]

Byline: GWEN EVERETT New York City might have to cut back on contracts or turn to the debt markets if federal aid--which the city has been pleading for--is not forthcming, [...]

Credit Suisse analyst Jacob Lundberg downgraded Noble Corp. to Underperform from Neutral with a price target of 10c, down from 25c. The analyst has near-term leverage and liquidity concerns. Noble's [...]

Treasury $32 B 10-year auction garnered really solid demand, even at a new historic low award rate. Demand for Treasuries, along with corporate debt is nearly insatiable, with the latter [...]

The company's net asset value per share decreased by 68c to $7.98, a decrease of 7.9%, during the March quarter. 'This decrease is approximately 40% less than what the average [...]

SunTrust analyst Mark Hughes lowered the firm's price target on Athene Holding to $45 from $61 but keeps a Buy rating on the shares. The analyst remains positive on the [...]

Byline: Mark Schoeff Jr. After a rough couple of weeks at the beginning of the shutdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the municipal bond market has stabilized. But assessing credit [...]

Treasury Action: the bond market is relatively undaunted by upcoming supply. Treasuries are facing a record $96 B May refunding, $12 B higher than February's sale. The volumes of the [...]

Treasury Action: the record $96 B May refunding will be an interesting test of the market and the demand for Treasuries during the time of COVID-19 and the destruction of [...]

Reports Q1 NAV per share was $7.17 as of March 31, down 26% from $9.71 as of December 31, 2019. Armen Panossian, CEO said, 'OCSI's results reflect the unprecedented challenges [...]

Treasury Action: yields remain cheaper, but only marginally so considering the many bearish factors in play, including today's rally in risk and the hefty borrowing needs announced yesterday. There wasn't [...]

Reports Q1 revenue $255M, consensus $253.01M. The company said, 'In the first quarter of 2020, we continued to build a best-in-class REIT by building a constantly-improving balance sheet. We accessed [...]