Illinois wrestled with its pension obligations all year making headlines but it is general obligation bonds from New Jersey that underperformed the overall market. The S&P Municipal Bond New Jersey General Obligation Index returned 3.7% significantly behind general obligations of other large issuers such as California (10.59%) , Illinois (9.63%) and New York (6%).
Not a bad year for municipal bonds. Boring is good.
This article was written by J.R. Rieger, global head of fixed income, S&P Dow Jones Indices.
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