Bonds

The Puerto Rico Oversight Board has discussed completing the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority restructuring without a local law supporting it, since members of a Senate panel appear opposed to such legislation. The board reached preliminary terms with the bondholders on a Restructuring Support Agreement in spring 2019. As currently proposed, the Puerto Rico Senate

President Joe Biden Friday visited the site of a major Pittsburgh bridge that collapsed just hours before he was scheduled to visit the city to highlight his infrastructure spending plan. Looking at the 450-foot collapsed span, Biden pledged the White House would “fix them all,” referring to thousands of bridges needing investment nationally. “We’re sending

Michigan’s multi-billion dollar revenue windfall puts tax relief front and center for Democrats and Republicans alike as the legislative session and budget season heats up. While both sides of the aisle are pushing for tax cuts, the form they would take remains the subject of debate. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat who is up for

Municipal yields rose double digits Friday bringing levels to highs not seen since early April 2020. The short end of triple-A scales has risen more than 30 basis points over the past five sessions on elevated selling pressure and overall market volatility. Triple-A yields rose by six to 10 basis points and ratios increased again

Municipal yields rose double digits Friday bringing levels to highs not seen since early April 2020. The short end of triple-A scales has risen more than 30 basis points over the past five sessions on elevated selling pressure and overall market volatility. Triple-A yields rose by six to 10 basis points and ratios increased again

Credit unions and teachers’ associations separately filed notices of appeal of the court-approved Puerto Rico Plan of Adjustment Friday afternoon. The teachers’ associations will ask the appeals court to stay implementation of the plan, said Bufete Emmanuelli Partner Jessica Méndez Colberg. In the last week the Oversight Board said it was hoping the plan could

As New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority stumbles toward a post-pandemic future, its finance team continues an orderly transition to meet a significant change in the short-term debt marketplace. In September 2018, the MTA issued the municipal market’s first tax-exempt transaction linked to secured overnight financing rate notes, the replacement for Libor, the London interbank offered

The Puerto Rico Oversight Board passed a fiscal plan Thursday with 18% more spending through fiscal 2026 compared to the fiscal plan it approved in April. The fiscal plan projects $107.5 billion in Puerto Rico government spending and federal spending for Puerto Rico, from the current fiscal year to fiscal 2026. The April fiscal plan

The Port of Los Angeles launched a Cyber Resilience Center Monday that protects not only port administration systems, but the shipping companies that berth there. The development of the center came after cyberattacks in 2017 and 2018 struck some of the largest shipping companies. “We must take every precaution against potential cyber incidents, particularly those

Municipals continued their ascent to higher yields Wednesday, even before the Federal Open Market Committee said it would “soon” raise interest rates. U.S. Treasury yields spiked following the FOMC statement and Chairman Jerome Powell’s comments. “Powell’s seeming unwillingness to dismiss some of the more-hawkish scenarios for the path of policy this year, leaving all options

Industry advocacy groups view the Libor transition as a continuing education effort for municipal advisors and an issue that could be eased with a legislative fix from Congress. Speaking Monday at the Government Finance Officers Association’s winter debt committee meeting, Susan Gaffney, executive director of the National Association of Municipal Advisors, said that NAMA has

Municipals faced more cuts to triple-A benchmark yields with the five-year hitting 1%, a level not seen on Refinitiv MMD’s curve since May 2020 and the 10-year at 1.34%, a high not seen since April 2020 when the market was in recovery from the initial COVID-induced selloff. U.S. Treasuries were slightly weaker while equities ended

The broad nature of the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board’s request for information on environmental, social, and governance practices in the municipal securities market is worrying some industry advocacy groups. Representatives from the National Association of Municipal Advisors, the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, and the National Association of Bond Lawyers discussed the issue Monday

Selling pressure on the short end continued on Monday and triple-A benchmark yields were cut by as much as five basis points there while U.S. Treasuries pared back earlier gains and equities rebounded from a large selloff earlier in the day. Ratios rose with the day’s moves with the municipal to UST five-year at 64%,

In his new role as a municipal market specialist at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Timothy Little said he’s focused on gathering market intelligence from as broad a range of municipal market participants as possible and is keeping a particular eye on ESG bonds. Little gave an overview Monday at the Government Finance

State and local governments are poised to withstand some of the Omicron-related economic damages thanks to more robust rainy day funds and billions of unspent federal aid, industry experts believe. “It’s continuing, unfortunately, and we’re in the middle of another surge right now,” said Eric Kim, senior director at Fitch Ratings, at the Volcker Alliance

Justin Brannan will head the New York City Council Finance Committee, Speaker Adrienne Adams announced. “My charge is to make sure we are spending wisely, safeguarding our city’s financial future, and fortifying the city’s social safety net for New Yorkers who need it most,” Brannan, a hardcore punk rocker before turning to politics, said when

Puerto Rico bankruptcy Judge Laura Taylor Swain approved qualifying modifications to Puerto Rico Infrastructure and Finance Authority and Convention Center District Authority debt that included deep cuts to outstanding bonds. Swain issued her orders and findings of fact and conclusions of law on Thursday, affecting $1.9 billion of PRIFA bonds and $384 million of CCDA

The White House is urging cities and towns to set up infrastructure coordinators to take advantage of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. White House Infrastructure Coordinator Mitch Landrieu, speaking Friday at the U.S. Conference of Mayors’ winter meeting, said local officials should appoint advisors and task forces to coordinate with state and federal agencies

The University of Michigan’s healthy balance sheet puts it in a strong fiscal position to manage the cost of a $490 million legal settlement for abuse allegations against a former sports doctor, but it’s too early to assess whether its top ratings will escape future fallout. Rating agency analysts will have their eye on more

Maryland’s beleaguered Purple Line light rail project is set to tap the market with up to $700 million of private activity bonds marking a fresh round of financing to restart the long-delayed public private partnership. Purple Line Transit Partners, the private concessionaire overseeing the project, is poised to price the PABs in “coming weeks” as

WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve released a long-awaited report examining the potential ramifications of issuing a digital version of the U.S. dollar, saying it would not create one without a clear directive from elected officials. The 40-page report, released Thursday, coincides with a request for feedback from the Fed on the impact of a hypothetical

Industry advocacy groups urged the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board to remain flexible and avoid creating new compliance standards in resources regarding new issue pricing. The comments, which were submitted Wednesday by four organizations, stemmed from the MSRB’s October request for comment on two draft resources regarding new issue pricing. One of the draft resources is

Municipals faced another weaker day with benchmark yield curves seeing two to four basis point cuts, underperforming a slightly better U.S. Treasury market, while equities ended in the red. Munis played catch up to the large selloff in Treasuries since Friday, holding municipal to UST ratios steady. The five-year was at 54%, 68% in 10

One of the first things Glenn Youngkin did after being sworn in as Virginia’s new governor was to address the Joint Assembly Monday to outline his vision for the state over the next year. On Saturday, his first day in office, Youngkin, a Republican, signed a slew of executive orders and directives at the state

U.S. District Court Judge Laura Taylor Swain approved the Plan of Adjustment for Puerto Rico’s central government bonds and obligations Tuesday afternoon, setting the stage for the commonwealth to exit bankruptcy after more than four years of intense negotiations over its massive debts. The action sets the restructuring terms for about $33 billion of debts

Aoifinn Devitt, chief investment officer at Moneta Group, discusses the Federal Reserve’s plans to raise rates this year, whether this was truly a pivot in Fed thinking, how the market reacted to this change and will how they will respond when rates go up, how new members on the Federal Reserve Board could impact Fed

In 2021, the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York overtook the state of California for the top spot. New York City, the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the Ohio Buckeye Tobacco Financing Authority, the New York Urban Development Corp., New Jersey and Massachusetts were ousted from the top 10 in 2021. All the

The top municipal underwriters accounted for $456.44 billion in 11,808 transactions for 2021 compared to $451.24 billion in 11,849 deals in 2020. BofA Securities led with $62.01 billion of deals. Out of the top five, only BofA Securities and Morgan Stanley increased market share year-over-year. Stifel Nicolas & Co. moved into the top 10, while

North Idaho College had its outlook revised to negative by Moody’s after management turmoil, including the firing of its president, put the accreditation of the two-year college at risk. If the two-year college loses accreditation, credits students received for completed classes would not be eligible to transfer to a university. Loss of accreditation could put