Pennsylvania + Wall

By Tom Price and David Strongin

A recent Wall Street Journal article, "Regulators Want Better Financial Data," rightly notes that improving the quality of financial data is vital to managing systemic risk in the financial system. But it's not just regulators who see a benefit in measuring interrelated risk in the financial system- it's a top priority for the financial industry as well..... Read more...

By Robert Toomey

For most in Washington, SIFMA is known as a financial services trade association that advocates on a wide variety of issues on behalf of our members. For market participants in the global US-dollar denominated fixed-income markets, however, we're the go to place for their vacation planning..... Read more...

By Richard Brueckner

I grew up when we were still a nation of savers. The personal savings rate in the U.S. at the time I graduated college was hovering around the 10-percent mark. Like most people my age, I’d been schooled early on in the importance of putting money away for the future. I had my first paying job at age eight, opened my first savings account as a teenager and learned about compound interest (investment vehicles at the time were fairly straightforward)..... Read more...

By Michael Decker

Why invest in the $3.7 trillion municipal bond market? Tax exemption, low default risk, and an investment that lends money to state and local governments to build roads, schools, and hospitals, among other essential needs, are among some of the compelling reasons. And the returns:  the average weekly value of the Bond Buyer 20-bond GO Index over the last 20 years (1993-2012) is 5.0%. Generally, municipal bond investors' interest income is exempt from taxation, so for an investor in the 35% federal tax bracket and with a 5% state income tax buying in-state bonds, that 5.0% translates into a taxable equivalent yield of 8.3%, a very attractive return for so little credit risk. Now in 2013, with the 39.6% federal bracket back in place and a new tax on investments in effect, the value of tax-exempt interest is even larger..... Read more...