Friday, April 1, 2011

Bank of America (BAC) Top Municipal Bond Underwriter in Q1

I'm not sure it's a good thing or not in light of the estimated 100 or so municipalities which may default on their bonds, but Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) was the top underwriter for municipal bonds in the first quarter; both for short- and long-term bonds.

Municipal bonds sales pulled back dramatically in the quarter, as concerns over the depth of the potential defaults become national news. Fears are been allayed some as to how widespread that may be, but it appears it's not as bad as originally thought, but some areas of the country will definitely default in 2011.

In the first quarters municipal bond sales dropped to $47 billion, the lowest number in 11 years.

Bank of America's sales came to $6.1 billion in the quarter on 61 deals. Following them was JPMorgan Securities LLC (NYSE:JPM) with 63 deals coming to $5.4 billion, Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) with 33 deals $4.3 billion, and Citigroup (NYSE:C) with 53 deals reaching $3.9 billion.

Bank of America was trading at $13.52, up $0.19, or 1.39 percent, as of 12:46 PM EDT.

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