Bonds

Municipal bonds were slightly weaker Friday inside 10 years, but trading was light and munis still outperformed U.S. Treasuries, which weakened further on the day from Wednesday’s large sell-off. Investors put nearly $2 billion into municipal bond mutual funds for the most recent week with high-yield reversing a downward course to hit $1.2 billion following

Two sets of teachers’ unions and a judiciary association filed separate challenges to a Puerto Rico Oversight Board pension law interpretation the board has said is necessary to enact of the Plan of Adjustment. The teachers’ unions filed in the final hour before the 5 p.m. AST Friday deadline that Puerto Rico bankruptcy Judge Laura

As environmental, social and governance factors have become more important to investors in the municipal market, more market participants are jumping into the space to provide ESG data and analytics. Intercontinental Exchange this week expanded its reference data coverage to now include two million fixed-income instruments, including municipals, in an effort to provide greater transparency

A federal judge in Michigan signed off on a $626.25 million settlement that resolves litigation over the state’s role in the Flint water contamination crisis, closing one chapter of the debacle as legal cases proceed on other tracks against former state officials and bond underwriters. The state sold $603 million of taxable bonds in June

States would enjoy more private activity bond volume flexibility under an affordable housing provision in the Build Back Better bill. The legislation would reduce the so-called financing test for tax-exempt private activity bonds to 25% from 50%. Lowering the threshold would free up states’ private activity volume for more affordable housing, or any other projects

Robin Prunty, chief analytical officer, U.S. Public Finance at S&P Global Ratings, and Arlesa Wood, director of bond administration for Miami-Dade County, Florida, have been named the private and public sector winners of 2021’s Freda Johnson Award for Trailblazing Women in Public Finance. Along with Prunty and Wood, the Northeast Women in Public Finance have

The jockeying has begun among Illinois political leaders, labor and planning organizations as they stake out their priorities for the state’s more than $17 billion share of the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill that awaits President Biden’s signature. State Senate President Don Harmon and House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch, both Democrats, put their support behind the

It was a good day to be an issuer in the municipal primary market. With U.S. Treasuries rallying, municipals followed with triple-A benchmark yields falling as much as five basis points out long and more than $6 billion of new issues were digested in both competitive and negotiated markets, some deals seeing large repricings to

A new division of the Bond Dealers of America will represent the interests of firms engaged in the pricing and valuation of fixed-income securities, a part of the market that has not previously had its own representation on a national stage. This Fixed-Income Pricing and Valuation (FIPV) Division, announced Tuesday, will use BDA resources to

Municipals were steady on Monday as all eyes were on the more than $9 billion of supply headed to the primary in a holiday-shortened week. “The municipal market is focused on the number of deals being priced Tuesday and Wednesday,” a New York underwriter said Monday, pointing to the Veteran’s Day market close on Thursday.

S&P Global Ratings revised the city of Miami’s outlook to stable from negative and affirmed the AA-minus long-term rating and underlying rating on the city’s limited ad valorem and non-ad valorem bonds. “The outlook revision reflects our view of the demonstrated stability in the city’s operating budget through the COVID-19 pandemic and our expectation that

Moody’s Investors Service returned Chicago O’Hare International Airport’s outlook to stable as traffic levels rebound from last year’s pandemic-induced drop and the city slows its pace of borrowing for the facility. All four rating agencies moved the airport’s outlook to negative in 2020 as the pandemic crippled air travel. The three others had previously restored

Although 47 of the 61 Plan of Adjustment voting classes in Puerto Rico’s bankruptcy case officially approved it, including all bond classes, confirmation is not certain. Judge Laura Taylor Swain wanted a wide range of support for the plan from the voting classes and appears to have it. But it’s the judge’s decision on Act

The largest infrastructure package in United States history is headed to President Joe Biden’s desk after the House passed the $1.1 trillion bill late Friday. The House passed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act by a vote of 228-206 late Friday night after weeks of intense negotiations. It’s been on hold since the Senate’s passage

Municipals were part of a wider fixed income market rally on Friday as high-grade yields were lower by as much as six basis points on the long end, buoyed by the stronger-than-expected October jobs data and upward revisions to nonfarm payrolls numbers for September and August. The rally sustained lower rates, a flat yield curve

President Joe Biden met separately with Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell and Fed Governor Lael Brainard at the White House on Thursday as he considers who will lead the central bank next year, according to people familiar with the matter. He has not yet made a decision, they said. Brainard is regarded as Biden’s likeliest

After reaching an all-time high in 2019, total issuance of private activity bonds appeared to decrease slightly in 2020, though the Council of Development Finance Agencies said the recent data shows that reforms are needed to make issuance more efficient and accessible. Total private activity bond issuance in 2020 dipped to $27.7 billion from $30.5

Municipals were stronger Thursday out longer, while U.S. Treasuries rallied, larger on the shorter end, and Refinitiv Lipper reported $600 million of inflows, the most since mid-September, signaling the fund complex is still engaged in the asset class. Triple-A benchmarks bumped levels by one to three basis points, with the largest moves out longer on

On a day when the Federal Open Market Committee made taper official, equities hit all-time record highs and U.S. Treasuries lost ground, while municipals made gains early on and stuck with them in an actively traded secondary. High-grade benchmark yields fell one to three basis points while USTs ended the day higher after an up-and-down

Puerto Rico’s economic activity index for August showed improvements from July and from August 2020. The index’s value was up 0.2% from July and up 3.3% from August 2020. August was the second consecutive month the index went up on a month-to-month basis. “The recovery in economic activity continues but at a weaker pace,” said

As the lights and tumult died down, New York City Mayor-elect Eric Adams stood among his supporters at his campaign headquarters in Brooklyn and looked out over the crowd. Just having defeated Republican Curtis Sliwa, by a 73% to 23% margin Tuesday night, Adams felt it was time to bring home his message of unity

President Joe Biden said he’ll announce soon his choice of nominees for chair and other vacancies on the Federal Reserve, amid a scandal over stock trades by central bank officials. “We’ll be making those announcements fairly quickly,” he said Tuesday at a press conference at a climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland. Biden has started meeting

Municipals were little changed and lightly traded Monday as the market readies for the new month and lighter supply this week while all eyes remain on Wednesday’s FOMC meeting. Triple-A benchmarks were little changed on Monday while ratios hovered near recent levels. Municipal-to-UST ratios saw the 5-year at 53%, the 10-year at 76% and the

The Puerto Rico Oversight Board said the current bond adjustment deal would collapse unless the bankruptcy judge said a recently passed law, which bars pension “cuts,” actually allows for the board’s planned pension changes. Puerto Rico Oversight Board Attorney Martin Bienenstock raised these concerns in a pretrial conference and hearing leading up to the Plan

In the wake of the recent announcement that a public pension plan invested $25 million in digital assets, some industry analysts believe that high levels of exposure to volatile cryptocurrency could be cause for concern. The Oct. 21 purchase was made by the $5 billion Houston Firefighters Relief and Retirement Fund (HFRRF) in partnership with

Mesirow has taken the first steps in what will be a multi-year effort to expand its presence in Florida and across the Southeast. After having one of the most successful fiscal years in its 84-year history, the firm announced on Thursday that it would build up its offices in the region by hiring more staff

The Build Back Better legislation unveiled by the White House yesterday not only failed to include municipal market priorities but may also hurt demand for muni bonds by institutional investors. The bill features a new 15% corporate minimum tax that would apply to the adjusted financial statement income for corporations with more than $1 billion

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board plans to request comment on its Rule G-27 related to dealer supervision in the next month. That and a number of other issues were discussed during the MSRB’s quarterly board meeting this week. “As part of our commitment to prudent and practical regulation, we are focused on a retrospective review

Puerto Rico’s leaders welcomed Pres. Joe Biden’s Build Back Better Act budget proposal for its inclusion of funding for three programs that would benefit the island. As it stood on Friday, Biden’s $1.85 trillion spending and taxing proposal would introduce the Supplemental Security Income program to provide $1 billion to island residents, would increase the

Municipal bonds were lightly traded and benchmark yields steady to end October while U.S. Treasuries bounced throughout the trading session, ending stronger near the close, and market participants are pointing to near-term volatility for both asset classes going into November. In the near-term, the upcoming Federal Open Market Committee meeting should contain “an intense discussion