09/11/2006 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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• • The Markets provides information on interest rate trends both in the municipal bond area and in the investment area. We recommend The Markets be used in conjunction with other financial information on our site as well as the many sources found in our Links section. The Municipal Bond Market Primary indicators of the municipal bond market are provided by the Bond Buyer newspaper published by Thomson Financial. The indexes represent weekly averages, based upon estimates from municipal securities underwriters, of the yields which would be offered to investors if an issuer were to bring certain types of securities to market at par on a given day. These indexes are named after the number of issuers used in each index (the same issuers are used each week): 20 Bond Index - An estimation of the yield which would be offered on 20 -year general obligation bonds with a composite rating of approximately "A." 25 Bond Index - An estimation of the yield which would be offered on 30 -year revenue bonds. The 25 issuers used for this index cover a broad range of types of issues (transportation, housing, hospitals, water and sewer, pollution control, etc.) and vary in ratings from Moody's Baal to Aaa and Standard and Poor's A to AAA, for a composite rating of Moody's Al or Standard and Poor's A +. The accompanying chart provides a five -year trend of two primary indices: the Bond Buyer25 -bond index and the Bond Buyer20 -bond index.