Bonds

The U.S. Virgin Islands said Monday it was canceling a planned $1 billion bond refunding. Governor Albert Bryan Jr. said the cancellation was because of the “negative impact” of a lawsuit filed against it on the eve of bond pricing as well as amendments made by the Virgin Islands Senate on the bond legislation. The

Two recent orders from the California Supreme Court indicate the court isn’t finished reviewing cases challenging the state’s 2013 pension reform law and the California Rule. The high court issued orders Wednesday in each of the four cases it had accepted for review, but had deferred, pending its ruling in Alameda County Deputy Sheriff’s Association

After a steep revenue drop, the North Texas Tollway Authority plans to lower its debt service costs with a $758.3 million refunding deal Thursday. Since restructuring its debt in 2014, NTTA has reported more than $1 billion in interest savings through refunding in a low-interest-rate environment. “We are seeking to achieve long-term interest savings and

Michigan’s revised August forecast that softened the near-term COVID-19 blow paved an easier road to balance the fiscal 2021 budget in a deal reached by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and legislative leaders this week. Lawmakers approved the budget bills that make up the nearly $63 billion all-fund budget package for the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1

S&P Global Ratings said a recent nine-notch rating cut to a small Illinois-based housing bond stems from an analytic mistake that dated back to the original review. The credit is not publicly traded and the error is likely a one-off, the rating agency said. S&P earlier this month downgraded the Illinois Housing Development Authority’s series

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board’s assistant general counsel said Friday municipal advisors’ loyalties lie with their issuer clients when using an exemption that allows MAs to arrange certain private placement deals without registering as broker-dealers. During a National Association of Bond Lawyers virtual conference, MSRB Director of Market Regulation David Hodapp was asked what duties

Allyson Belsome, program manager of the IRS Office of Tax-Exempt Bonds, was one of five IRS officials who spoke about compliance and enforcement during the National Association of Bond Lawyers’ annual bond attorneys’ workshop, which was held online this year for the first time. Brian Tumulty, The Bond Buyer Internal Revenue Service officials said Friday

An enforcement case announced Friday highlighted the often murky line between the various consultants working legally with municipal issuers and those who may be performing unlicensed muni advisory work. Funding the Gap LLC and its principal, Irene Carroll, agreed to settle with the SEC on charges that the company and Carroll provided municipal bond advice

A project to bring a rail link to New York’s LaGuardia Airport is closer to breaking ground in the face of fiscal headwinds created by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Federal Aviation Administration released its draft environmental impact statement for the proposed AirTrain last month with the public comment period scheduled to conclude on Oct. 5.

Taxable and healthcare deals dominate the upcoming week’s $8.7 billion new-issue calendar, with issuers in Oregon, Florida and Texas leading the way. Municipal bond yields barely budged on Friday, ending the week just about where they started. Yields were steady along the AAA scales. Primary marketIHS Ipreo estimates supply for the upcoming week at $8.7

The Federal Reserve has vowed to do whatever it takes to keep the economy going, but ruled out negative interest rates except as a last resort. What is the goal of negative rates? What has been learned from their use in other countries? With passage of a stimulus plan unlikely before the elections, will the

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s search for a Treasury secretary is widely seen as focusing on Lael Brainard of the Federal Reserve, a choice that would keep both Wall Street and progressives in line. The more provocative choice of Senator Elizabeth Warren hasn’t been ruled out but is far less likely, and other possible names

Oppenheimer & Co. has added seven executives in its continued expansion in the fixed income and municipal bond sectors. This latest push follows its acquisition in June of the San Francisco-based underwriting firm Brandis Tallman LLC., an investment bank, now a division of the larger firm that specializes in the underwriting and placement of municipal

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio expanded furloughs to all managerial and non-represented employees while City Hall also faces an alarming coronavirus spike in some neighborhoods. Wednesday’s furlough announcement, coupled with one last week for mayor’s office employees between October and March, will affect 9,000 employees and save $21 million, de Blasio told reporters Wednesday.

DPC DATA is rolling out an obligor- and sector-mapping methodology tool to identify the direct obligor in each muni transaction, with its only criterion being ‘credit,’ as part of its MuniCREDIT Solutions portfolio. It then will re-map all sector classifications based on this identification, the firm said. The new product is an offshoot of development

Veteran Chicago-based bond and tax attorney Chuck Katz is hoping to carve out a piece of the local legal work on bond deals with the opening a new office in Chicago for New York-based BurgherGray LLP. Katz, who bring a tax specialty to the table, had most recently worked at Barnes & Thornburg LLP which

A recent enforcement action in which the Securities and Exchange Commission charged a former dealer with improperly submitting institutional orders as retail orders underscores the SEC’s focus on protecting retail investors and cracking down on the manipulation of retail order periods. On Tuesday, Eliseo Sampayo, a former broker-dealer at Jefferies LLC., agreed to settle with

After declining by 11.2% from February to June, Puerto Rico’s economic activity index climbed 2.3% in July. The Economic Development Bank for Puerto Rico released the July figures on Tuesday. Bondholders and the Puerto Rico Oversight Board negotiating the Restructuring Support Agreements on the central government debt may be using the economic activity data in

Chicago is wrestling with budget troubles that have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.Bloomberg News Chicago is considering using debt to bide time for a post COVID-19 fiscal recovery, Chief Financial Officer Jennie Huang Bennett told City Council members Monday. Bennett and various stakeholders and financial experts engaged in a deep dive into potential revenues

Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President James Bullard said the U.S. economy has enough momentum to continue its recovery from the coronavirus slump even if Congress fails to pass additional taxpayer support. “I don’t think there is as much of an imperative about a new fiscal package as there might have been” in July

St. Louis-based Mercy Health system took two rating hits over its rising debt levels and strained balance sheet metrics as it readies a $354 million borrowing and looks ahead to a post-COVID-19 recovery after taking actions to tighten its belt. Moody’s Investors Service lowered the rating one notch to A1 from Aa3 and assigned a

Threats to Illinois’ investment grade rating are intensifying as prospects for a new round of federal relief in the near future dims and structural budget woes mount, S&P Global warned in a bulletin published Monday. “The odds of Illinois balancing its budget without additional borrowing or a sizable increase in the bill backlog are looking

The municipal bond market can help to fight racism in its ranks and promote social justice and diversity and inclusion around the nation, Connecticut State Treasurer Shawn Wooden told the Northeast Women in Public Finance. “With all of you in the industry, there’s a unique role that we all could play. I describe it as

Diminished reserve levels that were compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic drove Buffalo’s second credit downgrade in a one-year span. Fitch Ratings lowered New York State’s second largest city one notch to A from A+ Wednesday citing “substantially” weakened reserves largely caused by the virus-induced recession. It also revised the city’s credit outlook to negative from

A recent settled enforcement proceeding highlights the Securities and Exchange Commission’s attention to so-called municipal bond flipping more than two years following the announcement of charges linked to a years-long scheme to circumvent the retail order process. On Monday, Roosevelt & Cross, Inc., as well as its CEO Thomas Vigorito and President William Welsh, agreed

Reopening public schools for in-person instruction has proven highly complex and visceral for New York Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration. Family emotions, union pushback, fears of a new COVID-19 wave, cost drivers and data fluctuations are all at play. New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, center, and schools chancellor Richard Carranza, right, show off school

A tanker truck sits near a Parker Drilling Co. oil rig in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska. Alaska’s Ballot Measure 1 would increase oil production taxes on fields in the state’s North Slope.Bloomberg News Multi-billion dollar referendums in California, Illinois and Alaska highlight the 119 statewide ballot issues facing voters around the nation on Election Day. Voters

A deal struck between New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy and state lawmakers for a tax increase on millionaires isn’t expected to make a material difference toward combating the state’s steep fiscal challenges, analysts said. Murphy announced the agreement with legislative leaders Thursday to increase income taxes on those making over $1 million to 10.75% from

The unemployment rate has come down quicker than expected and now Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis president James Bullard is eyeing a rate of 6.5% in December. It currently is at 8.4% as of Sept. 4. “I’ve already penciled in 6.5% unemployment for the December jobs report,” Bullard said Friday morning at the Industrial

With Election Day in sight, the battle is heating up over a California ballot measure that would create the biggest changes to the state’s property tax system since Proposition 13 remade it in 1978. Proposition 15, on the Nov. 3 ballot, would eliminate for commercial real estate the cap on how much the assessed value