Bonds

A recent court decision will provide nothing more than a temporary boost to the U.S. Virgin Islands, Moody’s Investors Service said. The United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit determined in mid-April the government wasn’t responsible for $43 million in interest and fees, after a lower court ruled the USVI had topay over

A prominent voice in the municipal bond space announced his resignation Monday. Rep. Steve Stivers, R-Ohio, announced his resignation on Twitter this morning and said he would be leaving to accept a spot as CEO and president of the Ohio Chamber of Commerce by May 16. He leaves a hole in municipal bond advocacy and

Florida gained 32,900 private sector jobs in March, continuing its rapid pace of employment growth, the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity said Friday. “Florida has seen 11 consecutive months of private sector job growth. Our unemployment rate is 4.7% — far below the national rate of 6.0%,” Gov. Ron DeSantis said in a Tweet Friday.

Virginia’s unemployment rate fell 0.1% to 5.1% in March, down from a peak of 11.3% in April 2020 at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the state said on Friday. The state’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate continues to remain below the national rate of 6.0%. “Virginia’s unemployment rate is steadily improving and we are making

With a gas tax seemingly off the table in President Biden’s plan to pass an infrastructure bill, lawmakers and transportation advocates are looking to vehicle miles traveled fees. This comes as Senate Republicans begin to draft their own infrastructure bill, that comes in much smaller than President Biden’s $2 trillion proposal. Republicans’ $600 billion to

The U.S. central bank should continue to maintain monetary stimulus even as the U.S. economy is starting to experience rapid growth, said Federal Reserve Gov. Christopher Waller. “Just because the growth rates are really good and everything’s looking like we’re heading out in the right direction, we’re still trying to make up a lot of

Indiana expects about a $2.4 billion bounce in revenue through 2023, joining the parade of states with healthier-than-expected revenue projections, which along with new COVID-19 pandemic-related federal relief is fueling debate on spending priorities. Indiana raised its current year, fiscal 2021 general fund tax revenue projection by 2.6%, or $463 million to about $18.2 billion

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

Two bills expanding the use of tax-exempt bond financing have been reintroduced in Congress with a good chance of being incorporated into infrastructure legislation. One three-pronged bill includes a restoration of tax-exempt advance refunding, a tripling of the cap on bank-qualified debt, and the reinstatement of Build America Bonds under another name. The other has

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

A mechanism for pricing bonds now — and settling the deal several months later as a replacement for advance refundings — is on track this year to surpass previous issuance levels. With $1 billion of forward deliveries sold so far this year, according to Refinitiv data, and California planning to price another $1.1 billion next

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

The slow release of audited financial information from states and local governments has been a long-standing defect of the municipal market. Municipal analysts are challenged to make credit decisions in real-time, while using financial data that is woefully outdated. How is a municipal bond investor supposed to properly gauge the credit quality of an issuer

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

The infrastructure policy debate is kicking into high gear as Congress returns to Washington and key stakeholders, including the American Securities Association, will be making the rounds on Capitol Hill to make the case for our industry’s vital role in infrastructure. A real opportunity exists and if done right, America’s investment in infrastructure will create

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

A late amendment to New York State’s just-passed $212 billion budget restricts $1.3 billion of bonding for the Empire Station Complex project at Manhattan’s Penn Station to transportation expenses, “and not for above-grade development contemplated in the general project plan.” While the move prohibits Gov. Andrew Cuomo from using the funds for his “15 Penn”

Michigan-based Dykema Gossett Pllc elevated a member of its public finance practice, Jarrod Smith, to lead the 16-member team. Jarrod joined the law firm in 2016 after serving as a Michigan assistant attorney general for more than a decade. In that position, he acted as issuer’s counsel to the State of Michigan and its various

The Bond Dealers of America have launched an initiative to highlight projects across the country financed by municipal bonds as infrastructure discussions between lawmakers resume next week. The initiative, Infrastructure in America: Munis Since 1812, was announced Friday, as part of BDA’s Municipal Bonds for America lobbying effort. “We’re going to work with people in

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 university-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