Flight to Liquidity or Safety? Recent Evidence from the Municipal Bond Market

Huixin Bi and W. Blake Marsh
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W. Blake Marsh: https://www.kansascityfed.org/research-staff/w-blake-marsh/

No RWP 20-19, Research Working Paper from Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City

Abstract: We examine the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent monetary and fiscal policy actions on municipal bond market pricing. Using high-frequency trading data, we estimate key policy events at the peak of the crisis by focusing on a sample of bonds within a narrow window before and after each policy event. We find that policy interventions, in particular those with explicit credit backstops, were effective in alleviating municipal bond market stress. Next, we exploit daily variation in traded municipal bonds and virus exposure across U.S. counties. We find a shift in how bond investors priced in localized COVID risks before and after the suite of policy interventions was introduced. Prior to the policy interventions, COVID-related credit risks were a significant component of elevated short-term bond yields. Following the interventions, however, the pricing of localized credit risks declined for short-maturity bonds, but became more notable for longer-maturity bonds. The shift in credit risk pricing reflects policy interventions being targeted on short-term bonds, as well as investors’ expectations of long-lasting recession effects on state and local government budgets.

Keywords: Municipal Bonds; Credit Risk; Fiscal Policy; Monetary Policy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: E52 E62 G12 H74 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 44
Date: 2020-12-20
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-mac
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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DOI: 10.18651/RWP2020-19

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