Revenue-Bleeding Kansas Revives Tobacco Bonds as Deficit Lingers

[LoveVanilla]

Bloomberg: Revenue-Bleeding Kansas Revives Tobacco Bonds as Deficit Lingers

...States and localities have already sold $34 billion of the bonds, a niche that’s rallied as cigarette sales steadied last year and investors plowed into higher-yielding debt while interest rates held near a half-century low.“The demand side is pretty strong for securitized tobacco bonds,” said David Hammer, who oversees about $40 billion as co-head of municipal bonds at Pacific Investment Management Co. in New York...

...tobacco bonds are one of the highest-yielding corners of the municipal market, in part because of the risk that the securities will default as people cut back on smoking...

...California sold $1.7 billion of tobacco bonds in March 2015, with 30-year debt yielding 3.38 percent. The prices have since risen, pushing the yields down to an average of 2.69 percent in trading Wednesday...

Every time I mention the shadow of Wall Street money behind ANTZ, I get pushed to the outside lounge -- so I won't. Read between the lines yourself.

 

[sofarsogood]

Governments kill citizens on battlefields for national security. They kill citizens with tobacco for money.