Fixed income

Treasury 10-year yields fell from the highest level in more than two years as investors speculated whether the U.S. economy will improve enough for the Federal Reserve to end bond purchases in 2014.

The amount of loans to the riskiest U.S. companies ballooned to a record this year, propelled by unprecedented demand for floating-rate debt that offers protection from rising interest rates.

The Federal Reserve on Wednesday agreed to softly pare back its asset purchases by $10 billion, taking the first step in unwinding its controversial bond buying program.

Jefferies Group, the securities firm owned by Leucadia National, said profit rose 68% as stock underwriting more than doubled and investment- banking revenue reached a record.

There’s a 40% to 60% chance that the Federal Reserve will announce a reduction in its asset purchase program tomorrow, according to Mohamed El-Erian, chief executive officer of Pimco.

Puerto Rico came under increased pressure to issue bonds in coming months to prove it can still access capital, as Moody's Investors Service put $52 billion of the island's debt under review for a downgrade to junk status.

David Sirianni, Oppenheimer Holdings' head municipal bond trader, was fined $100,000 and suspended for 60 days by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority for overcharging customers.

World economic growth will pick up next year, paced by improvements in the U.S. and the euro area, Mohamed El-Erian, chief executive officer of Pimco, said in an interview.

Are clients, carried away with market returns of the last two years and tired of low rates, willing to take on more risk than they should?

Former Bear Stearns managing director Roberto “Bobby” Ruiz was sentenced Tuesday to two years in federal prison for his role in a massive El Paso County corruption case that led to numerous convictions of public officials.

When Illinois lawmakers report to the capital in Springfield today for another attempt at fixing the nation’s worst-funded state pension system, the gathering will have a ring of familiarity.

McGraw Hill Financial’s Standard & Poor’s unit said the U.S. government has broadened the securities covered in its fraud lawsuit against the ratings company so that the case would be unmanageable at trial.

Long-term municipal bond volume continued to trail last year’s pace as issuers sold 31.3% less in November than they did during the same period last year.

After holdings of U.S. debt surged to a record $1.89 trillion in 2012, lenders from Citigroup to Bank of America and Wells Fargo are culling for the first time in six years and amassing dollars.

Breaking out of the traditional allocation model to include a much broader range of investment categories and using relative strength principals to reallocate frequently may be one way to achieve stronger results for clients.

Tax reform legislation is unlikely to move forward this year, but municipal bond market participants shouldn’t think that the threat to the tax exemption for munis is gone, observers in the market said.

Treasuries fluctuated before the government sells $32 billion of two-year notes as part of $96 billion of coupon-bearing securities auctions this week.

What could cause the dollar to fall and inflation to rise? Planners should keep their eyes on three potential triggers.

Janet Yellen’s nomination to be chairman of the Federal Reserve won support from the Senate Banking Committee today in a 14-8 vote, moving her bid to be the Fed’s first female head to the Senate for confirmation.

The Fed will probably hold down its target interest rate long after ending $85 billion in monthly bond buying, and possibly after unemployment falls below 6.5% said the Fed chairman.