Bonds

Municipals were little changed ahead of a $10 billion-plus new-issue week as California offered $2 billion of general obligation bonds to retail investors and the market considered the municipal bond provisions offered from Washington. Triple-A benchmarks reported steady levels while U.S. Treasuries improved and equities also improved. “The municipal market is relatively unchanged and not

Second of two parts As New York City and the nation observed the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, both are amid another crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic. “Both were terrible events,” said Kathryn Wylde, president of the nonprofit business group Partnership for New York City. “9/11 was a

Municipals were little changed, underperforming a U.S. Treasury rate reversal from Wednesday as all eyes were on the primary with Minnesota selling $897 million of general obligation bonds to strong reception. Triple-A benchmarks were unmoved while the 10-year UST fell four basis points and the 30-year five. As such, ratios rose slightly with the 10-year

California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced the release of $2.75 billion to support the state’s Homekey project Thursday. The program provides money to local governments to build permanent supportive housing for unhoused people. It’s estimated the additional funding could build up to 14,000 housing units for people exiting homelessness, said Newsom, who called it the largest

Almost two dozen amicus briefs have been filed with the U.S. Supreme Court in the past 10 days in favor of granting Supplemental Security Income benefits to Puerto Ricans and other territorial residents, with oral arguments set for Nov. 8. Providing the payments would mean an additional $1 billion in federal transfers to Puerto Ricans

VanEck launched a municipal exchange-traded fund with a sustainability designation, the first ETF of its kind in the municipal space. The VanEck HIP Sustainable Municipal fund, SMI ticker, introduced Friday, is an actively managed fund focusing on investment-grade state and local government debt that funds projects promoting sustainable development, including affordable housing, green spaces and

Municipal bonds were little changed, ignoring another reversal in U.S. Treasuries on Friday ahead of a larger-than-average $10 billion-plus calendar led by California, Texas and New York issuers. Triple-A benchmarks were unmoved again Friday while the 10-year UST rose four basis points and the 30-year four. As such, ratios fell slightly with the 10-year muni-to-Treasury

First of two parts Visceral memories of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City — and more positively, the response from the capital markets — linger 20 years later. The anniversary comes as the city is trying to emerge from a newer crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic. Meanwhile, generational

The presidents of the Federal Reserve banks of Boston and Dallas said Thursday they would sell their individual stock holdings by Sept. 30 and invest the proceeds in diversified index funds or hold them in cash. Eric Rosengren, head of the Boston Fed, and Robert Kaplan, president of the Dallas Fed, released near-identical statements Thursday

Moody’s Investors Service upgrade of Maine energy housing and economic recovery bonds to Aa3 was well-deserved, according to its state treasurer. Moody’s on Tuesday boosted the so-called MEHER bonds, which the Maine State Housing Authority issues, to its fourth-highest rating, one notch, for its Series 2021 1 and 2 bonds, while maintaining a stable outlook.

The Puerto Rico Planning Board is more optimistic for economic growth for the next 10 years than the Oversight Board is in its adopted fiscal plan. This Planning Board, the local government body that analyzes economic data and makes economic and demographic projections, expects an average 1.04% real Gross National Product growth from fiscal 2022

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned Wednesday the department will probably exhaust its ability to avoid breaching the federal debt limit sometime in October and renewed her call on Congress to boost or suspend the ceiling. “Based on our best and most recent information, the most likely outcome is that cash and extraordinary measures will be

Melissa Norcia was appointed the chief administrative officer for the California State Teachers’ Retirement System on Tuesday. Norcia starts September 15 and replaces Lisa Blatnick, who became CalSTRS chief operating officer in August. CalSTRS was established by law in 1913 to provide retirement benefits to California’s public school educators from prekindergarten through community college. Today,

Chicago’s finance team dug in this week on it plan to scrap $950 million of scoop-and-toss borrowing amid pushback from council members who want the city to put more federal COVID-19 pandemic relief toward social investments. Several council members pressed Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s finance team to consider some limited form of debt restructuring to free

The catastrophic remnants of Hurricane Ida snuck up on Northeast states Wednesday, catching officials and the general population off-guard. But such a storm, still delivering massive amounts of rain more than 1,300 miles from its Louisiana landfall, is no outlier, one New Jersey climate official warned. “It may be a different animal, as you put

In a prolonged low-interest-rate environment, many issuers may have paid little heed to arbitrage on bond proceeds. But that could change, and municipal advisors and bond counsel are staying vigilant on their clients’ behalf. “Declining interest rates make it generally easier to manage arbitrage,” said Adam Harden, partner at Locke Lord in Texas. “If an

California received an outlook boost to positive from S&P Global Ratings as the state prepares to sell more than $2 billion of general obligation bonds. The deal will land the week of a Sept. 14 recall election targeting Gov. Gavin Newsom. But California’s surplus and budgetary changes that occurred after the 2008 economic crash will

Jennifer Fredericks joined Ice Miller LLP last month to take on the newly created role of director of business development for public finance. Fredericks left Bank of New York Mellon, where she was a vice president of business development for the corporate trust group, to take the Ice Miller position. At BNY Mellon she led

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board has asked the Securities and Exchange Commission for permission to extend the deadline to pass the Series 54 exam two weeks to Nov. 30, 2021, from the previous date of Nov. 12. The extension comes, as promised, shortly after the agency began offering remote examinations following news that a municipal

The municipal market was little changed on Friday as a disappointing August jobs number punctuated an otherwise lackluster day of light trading activity ahead of the Labor Day holiday. Trading fell to a trickle at about $2.1 billion near the close and triple-A benchmarks were unmoved, outperforming a cheaper U.S. Treasury market which saw the

Puerto Rico Gov. Pedro Pierluisi asked the bankruptcy judge to pause an Oversight Board suit against a law the board says would scuttle the Plan of Adjustment. Pierluisi’s lawyers filed the request with Judge Laura Taylor Swain Wednesday evening in an adversary proceeding part of the bankruptcy. The governor signed Act 7-2021, a law which

The municipal market traded sideways and activity was muted on Thursday as U.S. Treasuries were steady and equities in the black ahead of the much-anticipated employment report to be released Friday. Refinitiv Lipper reported $1.044 billion of inflows into municipal bond mutual funds for the week ending Sept. 1, down from the $1.9 billion a

Widespread Puerto Rico power outages this week are highlighting the extended age of the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority’s infrastructure and its impact on the economy. The outages affected 33% to 37% of the authority’s customers since Monday and will continue to afflict many for a few more days, according to PREPA. Demand has been

Municipal trading dropped 25% on Wednesday after an already very slow few days in the secondary, leaving municipal benchmark yields little changed, as U.S. Treasuries also held steady and most participants began checking out for the holiday weekend. For the 25th week in a row, municipal bond mutual funds saw inflows of nearly $2 billion,

Municipal benchmark yield curves were little changed to a touch firmer Tuesday as all eyes were on the primary in which several larger competitive loans were sold and New York City Transitional Finance Authority offered nearly $1 billion to retail investor for the second day with some concessions. U.S. Treasury yields rose slightly and ratios

The Puerto Rico Oversight Board asked the Puerto Rico bankruptcy court Monday to continue to hear a suit against a local law that would scuttle the negotiated debt Plan of Adjustment. Lawyers for Puerto Rico Gov. Pedro Pierluisi filed a motion to stay the adversary proceeding, which is like a suit, on Aug. 25. The

Municipals were little changed to a touch weaker on Monday, underperforming a slightly better U.S. Treasury market while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq rallied. The New York City Transitional Finance Authority priced $950 million of future tax-secured bonds for day one of a two-day retail order period. Nearly all categories of municipals appear poised to

Puerto Rico Gov. Pedro Pierluisi is expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit program for the island, which along with another expansion of a federal program, will likely aid the island’s economy, experts said. The federal government will provide $612 million a year for 10 years for the expanded credit, if the local government continues to

New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli cited the strength of the state’s pension system in lowering the long-term assumed rate of return on investments by the $268 billion Common Retirement Fund. The rate will drop to 5.9% from 6.8%, DiNapoli said in approving a recommendation from retirement systems actuary Michael Dutcher. The third-largest pension fund

Unfunded retiree health-care benefits are the most material long-term liability for about one in 10 states and local governments, Moody’s Investors Service says. Retirement liabilities other than pensions — other-post employment liabilities, or OPEB — were roughly $1.1 trillion for the 50 states and more than 7,000 cities, counties and K-12 school districts that Moody’s