Bonds

Shreveport, Louisiana, Mayor Adrian Perkins asked the City Council to approve a special April election for $206.685 million of general obligation bonds in four referendums. The Council said Tuesday that it will take the matter under discussion and is expected to hold a formal vote soon on whether to put the GOs before voters on

Former Michigan Governor Rick Snyder was charged with willful neglect of duty on the eve of the state’s announcement about the outcome of a criminal probe into the lead contamination of the water supply in the city of Flint. The charges against Snyder were filed Wednesday by the state’s attorney general, Dana Nessel, in state

Municipal yields were little changed Wednesday as several new issues priced in the competitive market and U.S. Treasuries pared back earlier losses. Markets were mostly unmoved in either direction as the U.S. House of Representatives was preparing to vote to impeach President Trump, a week after a mob took over the Capitol. Strong technicals continue

Gary Gensler’s strong rule-making background honed during the last financial crisis could bring a municipal market regulation push to the Securities and Exchange Commission. Gensler is reportedly President Joe Biden’s pick to lead the SEC and sources say his experience as an active regulator as head of the Commodities Futures Trading Commission may transfer to

California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s requests to fast-track some appropriations in his budget proposal received mixed reactions from lawmakers during budget hearings held Monday. The budget process typically gives lawmakers until June to approve a budget, but Newsom, citing the coronavirus pandemic, highlighted several areas where he wanted money allocated in the next several weeks. Assemblyman

It’s premature to discuss reducing the amount of monetary-policy support for the U.S. economy while the pandemic is still raging, said Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President James Bullard. “We want to get through the pandemic and sort of see where the dust settles, then we will be able to think about where to

Alethia Nancoo joined Squire Patton Boggs’ 12-person global board. Washington-based Nancoo concentrates on public, private and project debt finance, with particular emphasis on capital markets, infrastructure construction, airport, toll road and surface transportation, mixed-use multifamily housing, and water and sewer utility sectors. For the full story, posted Jan. 12, click here.

After the first full week of 2021, munis mostly brushed off the volatile news cycle and risk-on/risk-off movements in equities and U.S. Treasuries as technicals remained squarely in the muni market’s favor. Municipals were little changed Monday as participants await the larger new-issue calendar while equities and U.S. Treasuries react to tumultuous news out of

Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond President Thomas Barkin says the U.S. could face a bumpy first six months but will be well supported by the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines and fiscal stimulus later in the year. “I do think you’re looking at a second half that is going to be very strong and the question

Puerto Rico Governor Pedro Pierluisi appointed Francisco Rodríguez Dosal as executive director of the Puerto Rico Highways Transportation Authority Monday. The authority’s debt is currently in Title III bankruptcy as part of the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act. The HTA has about $6 billion of debt outstanding, most of it bond debt.

In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, South Carolina is coming to market with $182.355 million of high-quality tax-exempt general obligation bonds. The state will competitively sell the GOs in three separate offerings of refundings and new money on Wednesday. South Carolina GOs have been trading about three basis points above Refinitiv Municipal Market Data’s

Oklahoma’s gross receipts to the Treasury fell 3.8% in 2020 amid the coronavirus pandemic, high unemployment and falling oil prices, state Treasurer Randy McDaniel said. The report comes a month before lawmakers meet in Oklahoma City to allocate $8.46 billion in spending for the fiscal year that begins July 1. Collections from all sources in

Transcripts of the Federal Reserve’s 2015 policy meetings show that then-Fed Chair Janet Yellen acknowledged that the Fed should sacrifice potential job gains in order to cut off the possibility of higher inflation. Yellen, who left the Fed in 2018, has been nominated by President-elect Joe Biden to lead the Treasury Department and hold one

Municipal bond yields rose again Friday in sympathy with, though lagging, U.S. Treasuries as tax-exempts continue to be less tethered to their taxable counterparts. Munis have only risen five to seven basis points since Treasuries began selling off on Monday. Triple-A curves saw yields rise one to three basis points but ratios remain low. On

S&P Global Ratings said Friday that it raised the long-term rating on Louisiana’s $285.715 million of Series 2013A and 2014A state highway improvement revenue bonds to double-A from double-A-minus. At the same time, S&P assigned a double-A long-term rating to the state’s $202.71 million of Series 2021A taxable state highway improvement fund revenue refunding bonds.

The Illinois Supreme Court should reject the “cramped” definition of state borrowing authority applied in litigation seeking to void $14.3 billion of Illinois general obligation bonds, the state argues in a brief. The state’s arguments in the brief mark the latest salvo in the efforts by John Tillman, head of the conservative Illinois Policy Institute,

The continued escalation of COVID-19 cases in California and the resulting economic volatility took precedence as Gov. Gavin Newsom unveiled his $222.2 billion budget proposal for fiscal 2021. Newsom wants to spend some of the money from a $26 billion income tax windfall, but also set aside $22 billion for reserves while pinning some hope

When global law firm Norton Rose Fulbright announced new partners added to its ranks Friday many women, including San Francisco-based Mary Kimura were among those promoted. Kimura was one of 10 lawyers in U.S., and the only public finance attorney, named to partner. The firm promoted 25 female lawyers globally, representing 53 percent of the

A San Francisco judge dismissed a lawsuit brought by a whistleblower accusing major banks of colluding to inflate variable-rate demand obligation interest rates. This week, Judge Anne-Christine Massullo in the Superior Court of California in the County of San Francisco said the plaintiff, Edelweiss Fund, did not sufficiently allege falsity under the state’s false claims

Municipal yields rose in secondary trading, being pulled higher in sympathy with overall rates despite very little issuance over the past few weeks, leaving a lot of cash still on the sidelines while inflows into municipal bond mutual funds continue. The market treated the ongoing turmoil in Washington as a single event that won’t have

The Federal Reserve has returned about $42 billion to the U.S. Treasury, and will soon transfer another $20 billion in excess funds connected to emergency lending facilities that stopped offering new loans last month, the central bank said Thursday in documents posted on its website. Bloomberg News The transfers will fulfill the promise made by

John Hallacy, founder of John Hallacy Consulting LLC, talks about the most important opportunities and challenges the municipal bond market will face in 2021. He gives his estimate on where muni volume may be headed, discusses the possibility of a federal infrastructure program and talks about what to expect under a Biden Administration. Chip Barnett

Denver Public Schools on Thursday will price $450 million of new money bonds authorized by voters two months ago. The school building bonds, pricing through negotiation with book runner RBC Capital Markets, are listed under the name School District 1 of the City and County of Denver. Fiscal Strategies Group and Public Resources Advisory Group

The Puerto Rico Oversight Board announced Wednesday that Pres. Donald Trump would name David Skeel and Arthur González to serve three-year terms on the Puerto Rico Oversight Board. The board made the announcement late Wednesday. The announcement wasn’t on the White House press site at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday. Earlier in the day The El Nuevo

President Donald Trump promised the federal government will award $3.7 billion to Puerto Rico for water and sewer infrastructure repairs to recover from Hurricane Maria. Hurricane Maria, which hit Puerto Rico in September 2017, was the most damaging hurricane for the island since the 1930s. Puerto Rico Aqueduct and Sewer Authority’s Vieques treatment plant. The

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art, one of the region’s most prominent museums, will refund $271.5 million in variable-rate debt Thursday for savings and to restructure part of the debt issued for a major revamping of the museum in the mid-2000s. The museum has historically attracted more than a million visitors annually to see

The secondary market saw an uptick in trading of high-grades on Tuesday but those bonds came at a cost while yields on AAA scales were firmer by a basis point seven years and out as the supply/demand imbalance remains. Few new issues priced. In the competitive market on Tuesday, Nassau County, N.Y., (A2/A+/A/) sold $370

Hightower, a Chicago-based investment advisory firm, has acquired Los Angeles-based Bel Air Investment Advisors in what the firm described as the largest acquisition in its 12-year history. Bel Air has $8 billion of assets under management, while most of the firms that Hightower has acquired have had between $1 billion and $2 billion AUM, and

Municipal bonds were little changed Monday as the market opened the first day of the 2021 on a subdued note. Yields on top-rated munis were unchanged on AAA scales while muni to Treasury ratios remained low. The muni to Treasury ratio stood at 77.8% in 10 years and 84.1% in 30 years, according to Refinitiv

The Colorado Housing Finance Authority will price $125 million of bonds in its first deal to bear an outside “social bond” opinion. The agency will price $82 million of fixed-rate bonds on Wednesday and $43 million on Jan. 20, with closing on Jan. 22. The bonds are issued in three series and include taxable tranches