Bonds

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board’s proposed rule on the fair dealing obligations of solicitor municipal advisors is in need of clarification, MAs and dealers believe, particularly with respect to disclosure of where such professionals owe their loyalty. Comment letters filed with the MSRB late Thursday struck that common theme in response to the MSRB’s draft

A new opinion issued by the Justice Department says Puerto Rico’s admission as a state could legally include a transition period to temporarily continue the special bankruptcy provisions under PROMESA. That’s good news for the ongoing restructuring of the territory’s debt because it provides an assurance that statehood would not necessarily involve an abrupt dissolution

Municipal bond yields rose on the short end Friday as munis again played catch up to the moves in short U.S. Treasuries and investors became more aggressive in bid lists for high-grade paper. The UST five-year note, 0.785% on Tuesday, touched 0.96% in the afternoon and was at 0.89% near the close Friday, leading to

Parties have filed nearly 30 objections to the Puerto Rico Oversight Board’s proposed Disclosure Statement for its central government debt Plan of Adjustment, with a key complaint coming from the Puerto Rico government, which said it will not authorize new bonds if pensions are cut. The parties had until 5 p.m. on Tuesday to file

Illinois spread penalties narrowed this month to levels in line with its ratings for the first time in years as the state reaps the benefits of swelling tax revenues, federal cash and a market looking for scarce yield. The state’s 10-year spread currently stands at 63 basis points higher than Refinitiv Municipal Market Data’s AAA

Inflation risks may warrant the Federal Reserve beginning raising interest rates next year, St. Louis Fed President James Bullard said, backing an even-earlier liftoff than penciled in by many of his colleagues. “I put us starting in late 2022,” Bullard said Friday during a TV interview on CNBC, referring to interest-rate projections published Wednesday by

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker will sign newly-passed legislation handing mayoral control of the Chicago Public Schools to a fully-elected school board by 2027 even as negotiations continue over some board rules and the impact on the city’s $500 million in annual financial obligations. The package laid out in an amendment to House Bill 2908 was

Municipal bond yields rose by as much as seven basis points in the belly of the curve Thursday, playing catch-up to the U.S. Treasury market, while Refinitiv Lipper reported another large round of inflows, a nod from investors that they remain engaged in the market, regardless of low rates. Refinitiv Lipper reported $1.85 billion of

After delivering over $6 trillion of fiscal policy in response to COVID-19, lawmakers in Washington, D.C. have now turned to infrastructure discussions. Democrats and Republicans should be able to find common ground here. Although a Memorial Day weekend deadline has passed, the possibility for a bipartisan infrastructure package still exists. However, there has been a

More than a year into the coronavirus pandemic, employers and employees are searching for an answer: What does the future of work have in store? Despite agreeing a return will be gradual, these populations disagree on important points concerning the cadence of remote work and how to support a workplace in flux. Bridging this communication

Two veteran municipal analyst professionals — John Kenward and Kathy Evers — retired this spring from Standard & Poor’s Global Ratings and Kate Boatright has moved over from the analyst side to take on Evers’ role as head of the U.S. relationship management team. The Dallas-based Boatright, who was a senior director for the U.S.

Tennessee heads to market next week with $658 million of general obligation bonds, the largest GO sale in the state’s history. The bonds are of the highest quality, rated triple-A by Moody’s Investors Service, S&P Global Ratings and Fitch Ratings. All three agencies have stable outlooks on the credit. Demand is expected to be high

The E.&J. Gallo Winery will build a new plant in South Carolina, Gov. Henry McMaster and the state Department of Commerce said Tuesday. The $423 million production facility and distribution center in Chester County is expected to create 496 new jobs over the next eight years. The facility will let Gallo meet customer demand and

Municipals played catch up to U.S. Treasuries and were softer outside of 10 years, but the primary was the focus Tuesday with several large new issues repriced to lower and higher yields. Triple-A benchmarks rose one to two basis points, USTs were little changed on the day in the 10-year and off a basis point

A rocket carrying a payload for the National Reconnaissance Office was successfully launched Tuesday off the eastern shore of Virginia, the Virginia Commercial Space Flight Authority announced, and if the two-year-old facility attracts more business, it will boost the state economy. The Minotaur I rocket took off from Virginia Space’s Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at the

The nine justices of the Supreme Court are scheduled to huddle behind closed doors June 24 to decide whether a potentially landmark case involving the taxation of telework will be placed on their docket for the fall term. The Biden administration last month asked the justices to not take this case involving temporary taxation of

Municipals were little changed Monday as the market awaits the larger new-issue calendar and participants position themselves ahead of the Federal Reserve meeting. After a week of U.S. Treasury strength, rates rose Monday bringing the 10-year back to 1.50% after hitting 1.43% Thursday, a three-month low. Municipals did not follow and few participants anticipate any

With the race for New York mayor riveted on public safety, candidates for comptroller got a chance to discuss the city’s finances in their first televised debate. That didn’t stop the top eight Democratic hopefuls from extending beyond financial nuts-and-bolts on Thursday’s NY1 get-together, in advance of the June 22 primary. Scott Stringer, who has

The Internal Revenue Service has told the city of Winchester, Virginia it closed an audit of $28.6 million in 2012 general obligation refunding bonds without taking any adverse action. Winchester announced the decision Thursday in a public notice on the EMMA database of the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board. “By letter dated June 1, 2021, the

A $4.4 billion, three-year boost in Wisconsin revenue projections will drive its once barren budget reserve to record levels and throw more fuel into the partisan showdown over the next state budget. The Legislature Fiscal Bureau’s fresh round of revenue projections – which are offered biennially in the spring to allow lawmakers to finalize the

Two bipartisan Senate infrastructure proposals unveiled Thursday have raised hope that the Biden administration will avert a Democrats-only approach. One involves a wide-ranging framework worked out by 10 senators while the other involves more narrowly tailored legislation that would spend $78 billion on passenger and freight rail. The narrowly focused bill is the latest bipartisan

The private operator of Puerto Rico’s electric transmission and distribution systems has been plagued by outages and protests since it took over June 1, culminating in a 900,000-customer outage Thursday. LUMA Energy’s takeover of these systems is a central part of the Puerto Rico Oversight Board’s plans to transform the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority

As the market for ESG-certified bonds grows, Oregon-based Kestrel Verifiers is growing along with it. The eight-person women-owned firm has added two new employees this year and gained marquee clients like Stanford University, the American Museum of Natural History in New York City and the cities of Boston and Seattle, the latter a joint project

Municipal bonds were firm Friday as the market prepares for a healthy dose of new-issue supply while the Federal Reserve gets ready to decide the course of monetary policy in the face of rising inflation. Yields on top-quality munis were flat on the AAA scales Friday; on the week, muni yields were as much as

This year’s mayoral election is one of the most significant in New York City’s long history. It’s also one of the strangest. A generational pandemic, a rare midsummer primary, an open seat, crime and financial strife plus a new wild card, ranked-choice voting, are all at play. Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams faces heightened scrutiny

The pandemic has highlighted the importance of basic functional infrastructure, budget management and affordable housing to the vitality of cities. That’s the takeaway from the 2021 State of the Cities report released Thursday by the National League of Cities. Nearly 600 cities, towns and villages were surveyed along with 57 mayoral speeches that provided additional

Municipal bonds were mostly steady Thursday after a report showing an unexpectedly high increase in consumer prices pushed U.S. Treasuries and stocks higher. Yields on 10- and 30-year munis were firm on the AAA scales while the 10-year benchmark Treasury yield fell to 1.46%, its lowest level since March 4. For the 14th week in

University of Chicago Chief Financial Officer Ivan Samstein is moving over to the hospital system to take the top fiscal post there at the end of the month. The appointment of Samstein, who left his position as Cook County’s CFO to take the top fiscal role at the university in 2017, will carry the title

Municipal bonds rallied Wednesday as triple-A benchmark yields fell as much as five basis points out long but bumps were seen across the curve, moving levels on high-grades below 1% on bonds maturing inside 14 years, while another round of billion-plus inflows were reported. The Investment Company Institute reported $1.089 billion of inflows into municipal

Puerto Rico Gov. Pedro Pierluisi signed a bill Wednesday rejecting any pension cuts and undoing pension reforms enacted in 2017, despite these cuts and adjustments being part of the proposed plan of adjustment and approved fiscal plan. “The public pensioners dedicated years of their lives to the service of our people and were the engine