Bonds

Municipals were firmer in spots in secondary trading but benchmark curves mostly held steady after a strong week that moved yields by as much as 10 basis points lower. U.S. Treasury weakness early Friday morning hit the breaks for munis, which will see an elevated bond volume next week with some marquee names that may

Federal statistics show Puerto Rico’s employment increased in recent months. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics household survey, Puerto Rico’s number of employed increased 0.7% in March from February. According to BLS’s survey of non-farm establishments, employment went up 0.3% in the period. Though the household survey only shows a single month of

Georgia’s unemployment rate dropped 0.3% to 4.5% in March, the state Department of Labor said Friday, which is far below the national average of 6.0%. “Georgia’s economy is firing on all cylinders as a result of our balanced approach in protecting both lives and livelihoods during the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Gov. Brian Kemp. “While we

Puerto Rico’s path to statehood remains muddled because of differences among key members of Congress on how to resolve the territory’s political status. That was highlighted at a Wednesday afternoon hearing by the House Natural Resources Committee that didn’t resolve the conflict between two competing bills that lay out different paths to follow. Chairman Raul

The municipal market rallied Thursday with robust secondary activity, primary deals repricing lower, following better-than-expected economic data, a much stronger U.S. Treasury market, and high-yield municipal bond mutual funds reporting a record $1.28 billion of inflows. Municipals were stronger as the reality of an improved credit outlook, and strong demand buoyed by fund flows and

Statehood for the District of Columbia faces a Republican roadblock in the Senate that one Democratic congressman suggests could be broken by pairing it with statehood for Puerto Rico. Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland said at a House hearing Wednesday that the nation has a long political history of pairing new states. The Republican

Municipals firmed across the yield curve after a strongly bid deal from gilt-edge Delaware and active secondary activity moved levels lower by two to four basis points while nearly $2 billion more inflows were reported into municipal bond mutual funds. The Investment Company Institute Wednesday reported another week of inflows with $1.995 billion coming into

Former National Association of State Treasurers President David Damschen is resigning as Utah State treasurer at the end of the month. Damschen is leaving office to become the president and CEO of the Utah Housing Corp. Damschen told The Salt Lake Tribune on Monday that he is “excited I can focus on helping to find

Akron, Ohio-based Summa Health enters the market Wednesday to raise funds to help pay for a behavioral health facility and repay a bridge loan that ended its partnership with HealthSpan Partners. Both are part of the system’s strategic plans that were revised after a merger with Michigan-based Beaumont Health was nixed last May. Ahead of

Municipal bonds were steady Monday ahead of a smaller, taxable-focused calendar, while U.S. Treasuries rose slightly after auctions and equities took a day off from breaking records. The week opened up with yields 10 to 15 basis points lower from the start of the month, “but that isn’t denting buyer enthusiasm,” said Kim Olsan, senior

Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President James Bullard said that getting three-quarters of Americans vaccinated would be a signal that the Covid-19 crisis was ending, a necessary condition for the central bank to consider tapering its bond-buying program. “It’s too early to talk about changing monetary policy,” Bullard said in an interview with Bloomberg

The question of whether pensions and other retirement benefits should be more prominently reported by state and local governments is a burning controversy for the Governmental Accounting Standards Board. What’s at stake is whether the public is being misled by when a governmental general fund is listed in financial statements as balanced while omitting those

Stephanie Wiggins has been tapped to head the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority as the transit agency struggles to recover from pandemic-driven ridership losses. As LA Metro’s CEO, Wiggins will manage a budget of nearly $7 billion and oversee up to $20 billion in capital construction projects. The agency has 11,000 employees that transport

Florida has filed a federal lawsuit against the Biden administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for safety orders that have continued to keep cruise ships locked at the dock amid a pandemic that killed dozens of cruise ship passengers in the early days of the outbreak. The suit alleges that the Centers

The municipal market took a breather on Friday after a busy week which brought with it continued strength as triple-A general obligation yield curves were largely unchanged and Treasuries were stronger. A hefty slate of taxables, corporate CUSIP and unversity-led issues will dominate the calendar next week. An estimated $7.33 billion of new supply is

Chicago will host a virtual investors’ conference May 6 with the municipal market looking for insights into how the city will use its $1.8 billion of new federal relief, manage rising pension payments and the long-term COVID-19 fiscal fallout. The city has so far only sent out a “Save the Date” for the May 6

Federal Reserve Vice Chair Richard Clarida said policy makers will await evidence on whether they’re reaching their goals on price stability and employment before adjusting monetary policy. “It’s not projective progress — it’s hard numbers on the labor market and on prices” that the Fed is looking for, Clarida said Friday in an interview on

Puerto Rico Gov. Pedro Pierluisi persisted Wednesday in calling to amend the LUMA Energy contract with the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority despite LUMA’s rejection of the idea. In June 2020, Puerto Rico announced a contract with LUMA to take over PREPA’s transmission and distribution system. LUMA was to use the period up to July

Municipal bonds improved by two to five basis points, with the biggest moves out longer as an active and diverse primary re-priced to lower yields and stronger U.S. Treasuries helped the tone. Refinitiv Lipper reported $2-plus billion of infows into municipal bond mutual funds, with high-yield alone adding $821 million, furthering the market’s strength. “That

Ohio formally put an end to the $1 billion ratepayer bailout for two nuclear power plants owned by then-bankrupt FirstEnergy Solutions Corp. at the center of a $60 million pay-to-play scheme that led to the arrest of Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder on federal corruption charges. Tainted House Bill 6, enacted in July 2019, bolstered

Investors welcomed a flurry of new deals from diverse credits, including four competitive deals that pushed triple-A benchmarks richer as the minutes from the recent Federal Open Market Committee meeting were released with more of the same story: rates will stay low with “transitory” inflation increases. The Investment Company Institute reported another week of inflows,

Kansas City, Missouri, heads back into the market with an appropriation-backed issue this week as city officials deliberate how best to use $195 million of new federal aid to weather the COVID-19 fiscal storm that last month drew a rating downgrade. The city will receive the money in two tranches over the next year under

Municipal primary deals repriced to lower yields, competitive deals saw lower coupon structures and strong demand, and both helped push yields lower on triple-A benchmarks as U.S. Treasuries made gains on Tuesday. Gilt-edged Forsyth, North Carolina, general obligation bonds came competitively with 4% coupons through triple-A 5% levels in some maturities, and 2s in 2041

Greenberg Traurig, P.A., announced that it has expanded its public finance and infrastructure practice by hiring municipal veteran Brian Crumbaker for its office in Tallahassee, Florida. Crumbaker, formerly with Hopping Green & Sams, has extensive experience representing bondholders and corporate trust companies in cases related to distressed or defaulted high-yield tax-exempt bonds. At Greenberg Traurig,

San Diego has been emboldened by recent California state court rulings to seek certification of a hotel tax that passed with lower than a two-thirds supermajority. Measure C, a hotel tax that would provide funding for the convention center, services for homeless people, and street repairs, garnered 65.24% of the vote on March 3, 2020,

The deadline for bond insurer withdrawal of support for the Puerto Rico central government bond Plan Support Agreement was pushed back to 5 p.m. April 5 from 5 p.m. March 31. The relevant PSA covered general obligation and Public Building Authority bonds. It is a key component of the overall plan of adjustment. The Puerto

A comprehensive list of the public finance tax changes the Biden administration supports are expected to be released simultaneously with the proposed 2022 federal budget later this month. In the meantime, President Biden said Wednesday he plans to finance his $2 trillion American Jobs Plan by reversing some of the tax cuts congressional Republicans enacted

The Puerto Rico Aqueduct and Sewer Authority may refund more high-yield debt. The authority is considering refunding its $1.8 billion of Series 2012A and Series 2012B bonds, according to a Wednesday evening posting on the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board’s EMMA website. This would follow its successful high-yield 2008A and B refunding on Dec. 9, when

Many states are taking advantage of federal aid and higher than projected revenues by putting the money to work on infrastructure. The pandemic hit all issuers differently. In the case of Florida, the state faced a total shortfall of $4 billion over two years because of the pandemic, Ben Watkins, Florida’s director of the Division

California will have extensive resources to improve its high-speed internet connectivity if a coalition of statewide organizations gets its way. The cross-sector coalition penned a letter to California lawmakers asking that they include $8 billion in one-time funding in the fiscal 2021-22 budget to improve the state’s high-speed broadband infrastructure. The COVID-19 pandemic has underscored