Bonds

Cook County plans to set up a $300 million borrowing program that eligible suburban Chicago local governments with taxing authority can tap for no-interest loans to manage a four-month delay in second installment property tax collections. The bridge loan program will spare suburban taxing bodies from having to issue tax anticipation notes to bridge the

Puerto Rico’s economic activity index increased 0.5% in May from April and 3.3% from May 2021. , according to data released from the Economic Development Bank for Puerto Rico Thursday. Over the last six months the index has gone up four times from month to month, stayed the same once, and gone down once.  May was

Massachusetts plans to bring $2.7 billion of taxable business-tax backed special obligation revenue bonds with a social designation, marking the largest environmental, social and governance deal to date in the municipal market. The deal is also one of the larger taxable deals in 2022 in a year that has seen a significant drop in taxable

Los Angeles International Airport received a $50 million grant from the federal infrastructure bill for terminal road improvements, among the largest dispersed from the $1 billion allocated to 85 airports nationally. The grants are the first allotment in a five-year, $5 billion airport terminal grant program funded by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, Transportation

The Supreme Court decision in Carson v. Makin may render unconstitutional issuer statutes that prohibit the use of bond proceeds for religious purposes. The court ruled last month that if a state chooses to subsidize private education, it cannot disqualify some private schools solely because of religious affiliation. The ruling could change the way some

Municipals were mixed to close out a quiet summer Friday session ahead of a larger new-issue calendar that sees several billion-dollar deals. Triple-A benchmark yields once again largely ignored a selloff in U.S. Treasuries after a robust jobs report indicated the Federal Reserve will likely hike interest rates another 75 basis points at its next

A clash between Puerto Rico’s governor and legislators will stall rate relief for electric and water customers. While Gov. Pedro Pierluisi this week called a special legislative session to address a bill he sponsored to provide funds for the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority and Puerto Rico Aqueduct and Sewer Authority to reduce rates, the

Chicago officials will welcome the buy-side back for an in-person event Aug. 11 during which its COVID-19 pandemic fiscal recovery efforts will take center stage as the city looks to court investors ahead of billions of planned borrowing this year. The annual conference gives Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s administration an opportunity to update the buy-side on healthier

Municipals were steady to firmer in secondary trading Thursday as a large airport revenue bond offering from the City and County of Denver, Colorado, and the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority’s MTA deal took the focus. Municipals continued to ignore the movements of U.S. Treasuries, which saw yields rise for the second day, while equities

Federal Reserve officials agreed last month that interest rates may need to keep rising for longer to prevent higher inflation from becoming entrenched, even if that slowed the U.S. economy. Policy makers backed raising rates at their next meeting in July by either 50 or 75 basis points, according to minutes of the Federal Open

Michigan’s approved fiscal 2023 budget boosts the rainy day fund to a new peak and sends $2.6 billion to public pension plans, but tougher discussions lie ahead over the fate of billions in remaining revenues left on the table. Officials differ over what type of tax relief to provide with a portion of those billions.

Municipals rallied Wednesday, ignoring a selloff in U.S. Treasuries, after the Federal Open Market Committee meeting minutes reiterated the Fed’s position it would raise rates 50 to 75 basis points at its July meeting to stave off inflation. Equities ended slightly up.. Municipals were in their own lane Wednesday and triple-A yields fell four to

Illinois opened the new fiscal year with a near clean slate on bill payments and $1 billion in its once-barren rainy day fund, but the state’s latest financial results offer a contrast that underscores the weight of pension and long-term debts on the state’s balance sheet as viewed through an accounting lens. The near-term picture

Municipal yields fell for the third session in a row following the flight-to-safety bid in U.S. Treasuries as recession concerns continue to grow. Equities were mixed. Triple-A benchmark yields were bumped three to six basis points Tuesday with the strongest moves out long. Falling yields over the past two weeks have been “a welcome sigh

The once notoriously opaque municipal bond market has experienced many changes that have improved disclosure over the years. Among those was the creation of the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board’s EMMA website where issuers have posted bond and disclosure documents since 2009. Improved disclosure in the market is due largely to people, like Mary Colby, who

Chicago-based Mesirow is continuing to add new professionals to its capital markets and public finance operations to grow its footprint in the municipal industry. Mesirow has hired Elizabeth Funk, a veteran municipal underwriter who specializes in high-yield bonds, as managing director in the institutional sales and trading municipal underwriting group. She is the seventh new

The U.S. Virgin Islands Water and Power Authority board approved an electric system budget Thursday it said will stop its loss of cash. WAPA Chief Financial Officer Jacob Lewis said the budget would stop the authority from “bleeding cash” by projecting a positive or zero free cash flow. The U.S. Virgin Islands Water and Power

An income tax on wealthy Californians that supporters say would raise $100 billion over 20 years to reduce wildfire risk and support a transition to electric cars, has qualified for the ballot. A coalition of environmental groups, public health advocates, firefighters and unions, collected 1 million signatures, well over the 623,212 needed, to qualify The

Elizabeth Reich, who wrapped up her final day as Dallas chief financial officer on Thursday, will be joining Dallas Area Rapid Transit starting July 18. DART announced on Friday that Reich, as its new CFO, will be a key member of the executive team, reporting to President & CEO Nadine Lee and leading the agency’s

The Puerto Rico Oversight Board again imposed the fiscal 2023 budget on the Puerto Rico’s central government. While the board had reached a consensus budget with the local legislature and Gov. Pedro Pierluisi in June 2021 for fiscal 2022, there was little cooperation with the board this year, said Board Member Antonio Medina. The Puerto

Municipals were stronger following along with, but underperforming U.S. Treasuries, which extended their rally and saw yields fall even further to start the second half of the year on continued recessionary fears. Equities ended in the black. Triple-A yields fell by four to seven basis points while USTs saw yields fall by up to 16

A new fund dedicated to advancing social equity and led by an NBA veteran and a leading municipal firm is moving into New York State’s growing cannabis industry. Social Equity Impact Ventures, LLC, a premier minority-led investment team, will sponsor and manage the New York Social Equity Cannabis Investment Fund. This first-of-its-kind $200 million fund will be

Analysts expect climate change, combined with the political realities of either addressing the effects of it or not, will have increasing impacts on municipal credit in the coming years. Droughts, fires, flooding, changed temperature patterns, reduced snow cover, and higher sea levels may all come from climate change and all have the potential to impact

Susan Collins officially took office Friday as the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, making history in becoming the first Black woman to lead a regional Fed bank.  Collins comes from the University of Michigan, where she worked for 15 years, serving most recently as provost and previously as dean of the Gerald

Denver International Airport returns to the municipal market next week to complete financing for its current capital improvement plan, boosted by a rating upgrade as it continues to recover from passenger and revenue losses due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The $1.5 billion deal consists of $1.375 billion of senior lien bonds subject to the alternative

Municipals were firmer to end the month, but underperformed a U.S. Treasury rally following cooler-than-expected inflation data that fueled recession fears. Equities sold off leading to the S&P 500 closing with the worst first half performance since the 1970s. “A global central bank effort to fight inflation is driving rising recession fears that has given

Gov. Phil Murphy signed New Jersey’s largest budget into law Thursday. As the nation faces an economic slowdown, Murphy addressed a joint session of New Jersey legislators and told them that the record $50.6 billion spending package, which follows strong consecutive tax seasons and includes a $7.8 billion surplus, avoided using “temporary windfalls for long-term

A year-long dispute over nine Puerto Rico-based investment funds that hold municipal securities has intensified over the past few weeks, raising issues of disclosure, investment fund shareholder voting, and Securities and Exchange Commission regulations. Puerto Rico-based Ocean Capital said it is trying to gain control of several tax-free Puerto Rico-based income funds through fairly electing

A federal judge Tuesday trimmed claims from cities pursuing damages from a group of major banks over an alleged conspiracy to inflate interest rates on variable-rate bonds. Judge Jesse Furman in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York also rejected for now the bank’s argument that San Diego’s claims came too

Municipals were steady to firmer in spots in secondary trading as a large revenue bond offering from the New York City Transitional Finance Authority took the focus and saw yields lowered in a repricing. U.S. Treasuries improved on rising recession concerns while equities ended nearly flat. Municipals underperformed the moves to lower yields in UST,