Bonds

The Puerto Rico bankruptcy court will consider another one-week extension of the retail voting deadline on the proposed Plan of Adjustment responding to bondholder Peter Hein’s motion. Hein filed his motion late Wednesday. The Plan of Adjustment provides for the filing of a “Plan Supplement, which will contain documents necessary for the consummation and implementation

The Puerto Rico House of Representatives approved a bond restructuring bill Thursday night contingent on there being no cuts to government pensions. On Monday, the Puerto Rico Oversight Board said it was willing to raise the threshold for pensions to be cut to $2,000 or more per month from its previous threshold of $1,500 or

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board expects to spend $43.3 million during the fiscal year that began Friday, releasing a FY 2022 budget highlighting investments in technology and a focus on upholding the public trust. “Informed by extensive engagement with our stakeholders, we are making strategic investments focused on strengthening the capital market that facilitates economic

Michigan entered fiscal 2022 Friday with a new budget director and a $70 billion budget after Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed the final pieces that were negotiated with lawmakers amid a flood of federal relief and surging state tax revenues. On Thursday, Whitmer named Christopher Harkins, director of the Michigan Senate Fiscal Agency, to replace outgoing

The municipal secondary was quiet after a volatile week that moved municipal rates higher and ratios into a range that investors say are a more satisfactory level to engage in the asset class following months of stagnant rates. Triple-A benchmarks were little changed Friday while U.S. Treasuries ended the week at lower yields — sub

As executive vice president and chief financial officer of Pittsburgh International Airport, Eric Sprys knows of the city’s dark industrial days. “I hear those stories all the time,” he said. Now the airport itself is the latest example of Pittsburgh’s modernization. It is scheduled to break ground Oct. 14 for its $1.4 billion 700,000-square-foot terminal.

Municipals were little changed with a softer tone Thursday while municipal bond mutual funds saw a drop in inflows to $408 million and high yield saw its first outflows since March 3. For 30 straight weeks, investors put cash into municipal bond funds although their confidence may be waning, according to data released Thursday. Refinitiv

Federal authorities dropped the hammer Thursday on the former head of fixed income trading at the now defunct Atlanta-based IFS Securities Inc. for allegedly engaging in unauthorized and speculative trading activity that bankrupted the firm. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois and the Securities and Exchange Commission filed criminal and civil

Advocates of repealing the cap on the state and local tax deduction are hopeful negotiations are moving toward that measure’s inclusion in the multi-trillion dollar reconciliation package Democrats hope to pass in the coming weeks, though the ongoing talks are injecting huge uncertainty into what that package will eventually look like. Rep. Tom Suozzi, D-N.Y.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and his counterparts at the European Central Bank, Bank of Japan and Bank of England voiced cautious optimism Wednesday that supply-chain disruptions lifting inflation rates around the world would ultimately prove temporary. “The current inflation spike is really a consequence of supply constraints meeting very strong demand, and that is

Municipals were slightly weaker outside of five years Wednesday, with triple-A benchmarks cutting levels by a basis point or two, after four days of a correction to higher yields not seen since February and March of this year. U.S. Treasuries pulled back from Tuesday’s losses earlier in the morning, but yields rose into the afternoon

While Metropolitan Transportation Authority officials have been touting the need for congestion pricing revenue during multiple public hearings, observers have cited broader challenges for the state-run agency that has been in crisis mode throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Debt is high, federal aid won’t last forever and New York City area mass transit ridership is uncertain.

Municipal yields rose as much as seven basis points in spots along the curve Tuesday as municipal investors rode the rapid rise in U.S. Treasuries and a volatile equity market as a time to move the asset class into a higher-yield environment. Triple-A benchmark yield curves cut levels by two to seven basis points. Selling

Tarrant County, Texas, will be authorized to issue $400 million of transportation bonds if voters approve the proposal Nov. 2. The bond issue by the fast-growing county that includes Fort Worth and its booming suburbs would be its first for transportation since 2006. Proposition A splits the $400 million into two categories. A scene from

The Puerto Rico Oversight Board announced concessions to win local government support for a debt deal but the president of the Puerto Rico Senate said he wants more. “We are almost there,” Board President David Skeel said about getting approval on the Plan of Adjustment. “Let’s get to the finish line with the legislation necessary

Municipals were weaker again on Monday as the aftermath of Friday’s selloff continued to target the 10-year range of the yield curve amid the imminent arrival of more than $11 billion of new deals in the last week of the quarter. The high-grade scale saw cuts of as much as four basis points in the

WASHINGTON — Robert Kaplan, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, announced that he would step down next week, just hours after Boston Fed President Eric Rosengren said he would resign. Kaplan said Monday afternoon he wanted “to eliminate any distractions” at the Fed after it was revealed that he had engaged in

Federal Reserve Bank of Boston President Eric Rosengren will retire this week, nine months earlier than planned, citing a worsening kidney condition. Rosengren, 64, had served as head of the regional Fed bank for 14 years. The Boston Fed made the announcement in an emailed statement Monday. Eric Rosengren’s decision to retire early as head

After more than four years of seeking the restructuring of the ruinous public debts of Puerto Rico, the special body representing the government is looking forward to finishing its work and dissolving. However, the most important part of the job is left undone. Someone must put in place an impregnable bulwark against the fiscal mismanagement

As Congress debates a $1 trillion infrastructure program, Ballard Spahr announced William Estes, an experienced public sector attorney, has joined the P3/Infrastructure Group in its New York City office. Estes, who has over 20 years of experience as a lawyer, has overseen multibillion-dollar design-build and infrastructure developments for government agencies, Ballard Spahr Chair Mark Stewart

Problems distributing ballots to potential voters on the Puerto Rico Plan of Adjustment have led to calls to push back the Oct. 4 voting deadline, and this may potentially push back the plan confirmation. The Official Committee of Retired Employees on Thursday filed a motion to have the deadline pushed from 5 p.m., Oct. 4

California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed 24 bills that allocate $15 billion to further the state’s efforts to combat climate change, drought and wildfires. The total includes additional funding agreed to by the Legislature after the $261.4 billion budget was passed by the constitutional deadline and signed by the governor in July, but also some funding

Cities have spent the last decade seeking the kind of federal support found in the bipartisan infrastructure bill that the House may vote on as soon as Monday, said mayors and representatives from the National Urban League in a press conference today. “Mayors in the U.S. have been in infrastructure week for over a decade

Muni issuers are considering and beginning to roll out blockchain based solutions, including distributed ledger technology for various muni projects, but the market remains nascent. The introduction of blockchain and its use of digital ledger technology caught market attention in 2016 as a banking alternative that could transform operating systems, and for munis, promised the

Municipal yields edged higher Friday as selling pressure emerged early and buyers greeted it by demanding some concessions, though municipals still outperformed taxables by a large degree on the week. Triple-A benchmark yields rose another two to three basis points, moving the municipal 10-year to 1% on both Refinitiv MMD and ICE Data Services scales.

The Puerto Rico House of Representatives could approve next week restructured bonds for the Puerto Rico bankruptcy, which may move the process along. House Speaker Rafael Hernández Montañez plans to submit a bill to allow the sale ofrestructured bonds consistent with the proposed Plan of Adjustment, said Lilliam Maldonado, spokesperson for Rep. Jesús Santa Rodríguez,

Illinois municipalities eyeing pension obligation bonds to deal with the strain of public safety contributions received a shot across the ratings bow this week as Moody’s Investors Service cut East Moline’s rating by two notches as it preps a POB. Moody’s dropped the city to Baa2 with a stable outlook from A3 with a negative

The Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday charged a firm and its two principals with violating numerous duties under Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board Rule G-42, which lays out the core responsibilities of municipal advisors. The actions–which are the first enforcement cases the SEC has brought under the 2016 rule–were brought in the U.S. District Court

Municipals could not ignore broader markets and triple-A scales cut levels by two to three basis points along the curve, but again largely outperformed a major risk-on trade Thursday that moved U.S. Treasuries to trade off double digits while equities boomed. Secondary trading showed weaker prints into the early afternoon. Large blocks of benchmark credits

While Puerto Rico Gov. Pedro Pierluisi signed into law minimum wage increases for the island, they will not address long-term economic growth issues, economists said. Pierluisi on Tuesday signed the law, which will raise the minimum to $8.50 per hour on Jan. 1 from $7.25 per hour. The wage will increase to $9.50 per hour