Bonds

Northeast states Massachusetts and Pennsylvania will come to market this week with general obligation bond sales of $600 million and $1 billion, respectively. On Tuesday, Massachusetts intends to kick off a busy spring with a $600 million competitive, new-money GO sale. The fixed-rate, tax-exempt issuance will feature a $200 million Series A tranche and $400

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio touted his $98.6 billion executive budget as recovery-themed. Critics say the number, while appropriate for a body temperature, is too feverish for a spending plan. The mayor’s fiscal 2022 plan is up 7% from his $92.3 billion preliminary budget in January. Should the 51-member City Council approve de Blasio’s

The key benchmark that the Federal Reserve targets to control monetary policy dropped for the first time this month, dragged down as growing imbalances in the Treasury-bill market weigh on short-term dollar rates. The effective fed funds rate, which the central bank is currently aiming to keep within a range of 0% to 0.25%, slipped

Passage of a Senate water bill authorizing billions in low-interest loans gets the ball rolling ahead of infrastructure discussions later this year. Thursday afternoon the full Senate passed the $35 billion Drinking Water and Wastewater Infrastructure Act of 2021 by a vote of 89-2. That bill is expected to go to conference committee to work

The North Texas Tollway Authority plans to keep its winning streak alive with $850 million of refunding amid rebounding toll revenues. The authority, which operates hundreds of miles of toll roads in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, reports saving more than $1 billion through refunding $7 billion of debt since 2013. “This transaction allows us to

Signs of excess risk taking in financial markets show it’s time for the U.S. central bank to start debating a reduction in its massive bond purchases, said the president of the Dallas Federal Reserve, breaking ranks with Chair Jerome Powell. “We’re now at a point where I’m observing excesses and imbalances in financial markets,” said

New-money volume growth nearly tripled that of refunding volume in April, as issuers refunded less and played catch-up, issuing new paper in a better credit environment spurred by federal aid. Municipal issuance increased 6.2% in April year-over-year, starting the second quarter with $33.65 billion across 940 transactions, up from the $31.69 billion in 919 deals

Municipals ended the week and the month quietly as participants prepare for a supply and redemption increase in May, but even with some pressure felt this week, tailwinds remain for the market. Rates rose this week by as much as six basis points on the 10-year, but on Friday, the benchmark remained below 1%. Given

Rising passenger traffic prompted Fitch Ratings to revise its outlook on the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority, Fla.’s airport facilities revenue bonds to stable from negative. Fitch also affirmed the authority’s $1.8 billion of outstanding senior lien bonds at AA-minus and $968 million of outstanding subordinate lien bonds at A-plus. Fitch said the outlook revision reflected

A suburban Chicago hospital saw its ratings raised several notches after joining forces with a better heeled system, highlighting the appeal of consolidation for independent hospitals that Moody’s Investors Service says shows no signs of slowing. Moody’s this week raised Northwest Community Healthcare’s debt rating to Aa3 from A2 after security on $220 million of

Munis lost ground Thursday with two to four basis point cuts to triple-A benchmark yields after U.S. Treasuries weakened with better economic data pouring in as the month closes out. Cash flowed into municipal bond mutual funds again at $1.64 billion with high-yield making up $630 million of it, as investors fearing rising taxes. Fund

Congestion pricing, a Manhattan Greenway, open-streets programs and a plethora of other uses are all at play as New York weighs recrafting its streets amid its emergence from COVID-19. “This is a long-term conversation that we and other cities are having, as to the use of the streets,” said Kathryn Wylde, president of the business

Alex Oh, who was named head of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s vaunted enforcement division last week, abruptly resigned, an early setback for Gary Gensler’s tenure running the Wall Street regulator. The surprise move, announced Wednesday in an SEC statement, means Gensler won’t have his preferred pick leading what’s arguably the agency’s most important division.

U.S. District Judge Laura Taylor Swain said Wednesday that consideration of a broad range of revenue bond issues as part of Puerto Rico’s Title III bankruptcy should be delayed for several months. Swain, who is overseeing the bankruptcy proceedings, said this as part of an oral ruling against the Puerto Rico Oversight Board and the

Credit analysts aren’t viewing California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s recall election — a near certainty at this point — as a credit issue. Secretary of State Shirley Weber confirmed on Monday that recall supporters had submitted more than the 1.5 million verified voter signatures needed to force an election. The threshold is 12% of all ballots

Municipals were little changed, but saw slight weakness in the short- to intermediate-range for a second day in a row Tuesday, as Treasuries were also weaker on the first of the two-day Federal Open Market Committee meeting while more positive economic data came in stirring inflation concerns. Only the short- to intermediate-slope of benchmark high-grade

The U.S. Census released a population figure for Puerto Rico that revealed the Puerto Rico Oversight Board’s population assumption to be too pessimistic. On Tuesday the Census Bureau reported Puerto Rico’s population on April 1, 2020 at 3.29 million. In the fiscal plan the board approved Friday, the board estimated the island’s population to be

Flush with $15 billion of additional state and federal aid, improving COVID-19 statistics and the further lessening of restrictions, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio released his record $98.6 billion executive budget, the next step to enacting the fiscal 2022 spending plan. “The theme of our budget is recovery,” de Blasio said Monday afternoon from

Municipals were steady on Monday with some weakness around 10 years as the market awaits a small $5 billion calendar to close out April. With the lower supply this week — only a handful of deals larger than $100 million — municipals should continue to hold onto current levels. Last week’s new-issue supply volume of

Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak is slowing a proposal he floated in his State of the State speech in January to allow tech companies to create autonomous “innovation zones” similar to county governments. Sisolak had been drafting legislation that would have allowed a company called Blockchains LLC to form its own municipal government on 67,000 acres

Even as they exhaled on their Zoom cameras, members of Philadelphia’s budget team winced as one over what could have happened without a fresh infusion of federal rescue aid. “We were looking at a very ugly budget,” finance director Rob Dubow told reporters at an online briefing one day before Mayor Jim Kenney released his

A bipartisan group of senators reintroduced a direct-pay bond bill to help finance infrastructure, garnering support from municipal bond groups. Sens. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., and Michael Bennet, D-Colo., reintroduced their American Infrastructure Bonds Act of 2021, that would create a new class of direct-pay taxable bonds to help fund infrastructure. The concept is broadly similar

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board will keep its CUSIP rule as is, changing course from a previous decision to eliminate the requirement that municipal advisors apply for CUSIPs when advising on competitive deals. That was among the decisions made during the MSRB’s quarterly board meeting this week. The change of course is in respect to

Experts say the District of Columbia’s already strongly positive bond credit ratings would continue if it becomes the nation’s 51st state. The District’s general obligation bond ratings last year were AA-plus from Fitch Ratings; Aaa from Moody’s Investors Service; and AA-plus from S&P Global Ratings. “DC’s bond rating is higher than that of 32 states,”

Rising oil prices combined with more certainty around Alaska’s handling of its permanent fund helped the state earn an outlook revision to stable from negative on its general obligation bonds from Moody’s Investors Service. The rating agency also affirmed the Aa3 rating on its GOs. While oil prices are a factor in Alaska’s ratings, because

A rosier revenue forecast and new federal relief will help Indiana fund infrastructure projects, pay down some debt, replenish reserves and boost education funding. Gov. Eric Holcomb reached an agreement on a revised budget with his fellow GOP legislative leaders who then passed the $37.4 billion package for the biennium beginning July 1 during the

The Puerto Rico Oversight Board approved a central government fiscal plan that is more optimistic than the one it approved last spring, and the revised sales and use tax revenue figures may benefit some bondholders. The fiscal plan projects a total government surplus of $15.2 billion from fiscal year 2022 to FY 2035. FY 2022

An agreement reached Friday between Florida and the Seminole Tribe is expected to provide the state with at least $2.5 billion in new revenue over the next five years. The compact authorizes the Tribe to allow sports betting for the first time and allow casinos to operate on Tribal lands. “This historic compact expands economic

The municipal bond market took a breather on Friday after digesting nearly $10 billion in new issuance on the week. Supply is expected to drop to $5.5 billion in the upcoming week. After a week marked by a strong and steady secondary market, the triple-A muni benchmarks remained flat for the sixth straight session as

Municipals were little changed in secondary activity but the primary was alive with new issues repricing to lower yields, New Jersey snagged 1.69% on a 2% coupon in 10-years and Refinitiv Lipper once again reported billion-dollar-plus inflows. “New-issue proxies are reinforcing secondary bid sides in recent weeks that have favored a down-in-credit consumption along the