Bonds

Austin will price $271 million of debt next week after losing one of its three triple-A ratings. Moody’s Investors Service on Thursday downgraded the city’s general obligation bonds to Aa1 with a stable outlook, citing “high leverage and fixed costs attributable to the city’s pension and other post employee benefit plans.” Moody’s had rated Austin

A big decline in the unemployment rate in August is “worth celebrating,” but could take the pressure off lawmakers to help the economy, according to economists. The unemployment rate fell to 8.4% from 10.2% the month prior, while nonfarm payrolls climbed by 1.4 million, according to the Labor Department. Economists polled by IFR Markets expected

Municipals were little changed on Friday ahead of the holiday-shortened trading week. Markets are closed Monday in observance of Labor Day. Munis yields remained steady along most of the AAA GO scale as the day’s trading action was focused on California and New York paper. Primary marketIHS Ipreo estimates supply for the upcoming week at

Orange County, Florida, officials pulled the plug on a major bond-financed expansion of the second-largest convention center in the country amid a five-month-long, double-digit plunge in tourist tax collections, which support the plan. Since the pandemic-induced downturn, the county had used tourist development tax revenues to continue designing the $605 million capital improvement plan at

Puerto Rico Gov. Wanda Vázquez nominated Efran Paredes Maisonet to be the new executive director of the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority on Friday. The governor made the nomination to the authority’s board of directors, which normally approves the governor’s nomination. PREPA power plant in Guayanilla, Puerto Rico Paredes Maisonet has been serving as interim

Texas began its 2021 fiscal year on Sept. 1 with the prospect of $1 billion of budget cuts amid lost revenue due to the coronavirus pandemic, but the shortfall for the fiscal year that ended Aug. 31 was not as bad as expected, according to state Comptroller Glenn Hegar. “Yearly revenues were slightly ahead of

Thomas Johnsen, 67, a retired California municipal advisor and former National Association of Municipal Advisors board member, died Tuesday. Johnsen had battled cancer off and on for 10 years, but succumbed to sepsis, an infection that attacks the immune system. He retired in 2018 after nearly 31 years with Irvine-based Fieldman, Rolapp & Associates. He

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf repeated his call for state lawmakers to consider the legalization of adult-use cannabis to help with the commonwealth’s recovery from COVID-19. “We see a desperate need for the economic boost cannabis legalization can provide,” Wolf told reporters Thursday. He made a similar plea last fall, before the pandemic hit. “We see

Inflows into municipal bond mutual funds slowed to the lowest level since last July, with Refinitiv Lipper data showing investors put $139.364 million into the funds in the latest reporting week. Muni funds have been on a winning streak since May 13, with most week’s seeing over $1 billion of cash flowing into the funds.

Economic activity will likely remain suppressed, especially while Americans are waiting for more and sufficient support fiscally, according to president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago Charles Evans. “More adequate, fiscal relief is needed for us to get through this and it could be late 2022 before we reach pre-pandemic economic levels,” he said

Economic activity grew “moderately” in most districts of the country and while there is a majority of optimistic beliefs about the overall outlook, pessimistic thoughts remain for some, according to the Federal Reserve’s Beige Book, released on Wednesday. The pessimism stems from “continued uncertainty and volatility” related to the COVID-19 pandemic, and its “negative effect

New Jersey local governments gain new bonding capabilities to offset COVID-19-related revenue losses after Gov. Phil Murphy signed a revised municipal borrowing bill that addressed his previous debt concerns when he vetoed an earlier version of the measure. Murphy signed the legislation Monday three weeks after issuing a conditional veto noting opposition to the proposed

Florida upsized its taxable bond sale by $1 billion and came to market Wednesday with a $3.5 billion deal that will help bolster the state’s Hurricane Catastrophe Fund. California’s $2.5 billion general obligation bond deal was also priced in the primary giving buyers a wide variety of paper to choose from. “You cannot deny that

During World War II, more than 80 million Americans purchased Series-E War Bonds to support their country and their troops in the fight for liberty and freedom. The war was an expensive effort, both in terms of the loss of human life and financial costs. Through the purchase of War Bonds, individual investors contributed the

A trend toward lower fuel consumption, driven in part by the COVID-19 pandemic, prompted New Jersey to raise its gas tax for a third time in five years to among the highest levels in the nation, putting the state at risk a for future volume dips, according to analysts. “There is a substantial portion of

Municipals started out the month with a firm tone, ending the day little changed amid an avalanche of new issuance. Yields rose by as much as one basis point on the long end Tuesday, looking at some AAA scales. August saw the largest intra-month upward yield moves since April as the market backed off extreme

Cain Brothers has hired Maura Davalos as a director in its Healthcare Public Finance Group in Jacksonville, Florida. Davalos will be responsible for originating and underwriting Federal Housing Administration-insured financings for hospitals and health systems across the U.S. Cain Brothers hired Maura Davalos to do Federal Housing Administration-insured financings for hospitals and health systems. Davalos

Municipal bonds saw an August that marked the third consecutive month with issuance greater than $40 billion in 2020. Long-term muni bond volume was 4.1% higher year-over-year at $41.29 billion via 1,056 transactions in August, more than the $39.52 billion spanning 982 transactions the market saw in August of 2019. “Although August volume slowed from

Municipals were steady Monday, with yields across the curve finishing out the day unchanged after the recent market correction. Yields barely budged off last week’s higher levels. In the primary, a New York State issuer is coming to market with an affordable housing deal that it has designated as “social” bonds as environmental, social and

Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo is convening an eight-member municipal resilience task force, which she said will craft recommendations to build economic resiliency and curb costs to prepare for a post-COVID-19 future. The group, which the Rhode Island League of Cities and Towns requested, will consist of municipal, state and private sector leaders. “Now is

Municipals finished weaker Thursday, with yields on long-dated maturities rising by as much as four basis points on the AAA GO scales. Lipper reported $1.017 billion of inflows into muni mutual funds in the latest reporting period, the 16th week in a row of positive results. Action was quieter in the primary as deals from

The Federal Reserve has already given enough guidance about the likely path of interest rates at this juncture and doesn’t need to offer more, Dallas Fed President Robert Kaplan said. “I would prefer to wait,” Kaplan said Friday during a Bloomberg Television. “I would prefer to get more clarity on the path of the virus.

Street space has become the new battleground as New York City looks to adapt during the COVID-19 pandemic. Outdoor dining, protests, dedicated bus and bicycle lanes, scooters and mopeds, app-based ride sharing, delivery trucks, homeless people and vendors are all at play as public officials manage with far less at their disposal. The coronavirus has

HilltopSecurities has named Clare Graca as chief administrative officer and Manal Keen as senior vice president of finance and strategy for wealth management. Graca will serve on the company’s executive team reporting directly to Hilltop chief executive Brad Winges, the company said. Graca will manage collaboration and communication across Hilltop’s business lines. Clare Graca was

California wildfires that have scorched 1.5 million acres will compound the challenges for local governments already reeling from the coronavirus pandemic, but Moody’s Investors Service says in most cases they will emerge with their bond ratings intact. The latest burst of blazes was sparked by a rare, powerful storm that generated lighting strikes throughout northern

Experts asked many questions about the Federal Reserve’s new framework, which averages inflation and will not change monetary policy based on expected inflation, especially why they haven’t been able to hit the benchmark consistently since its January 2012 introduction. “Since the Fed established 2% as its inflation target in January 2012, inflation has been nearly

Municipals were weaker on Friday, with yields on the long end finishing out the day up one basis point. Since Aug. 12, when the muni market correction began and yields moved off record low levels, the yield on 10-year muni has risen by 23 basis points while the 30-year yield is up 29 basis points,

New York’s Rockland County achieved record low interest rates for a more than $40 million bond transaction following a credit upgrade that reflected its recent fiscal discipline. Rockland issued $24.1 million in Series B refunding bonds Thursday in a negotiated deal led by Roosevelt & Cross that priced at a true interest cost of 1.35828%

Bjorn Austraat, SVP, AI Enterprise Solutions at Wells Fargo, will discuss how to go from idea to experience, when creating AI programs at your bank at an enterprise scale. He will share his “4D” pragmatic, tested, and effective structure for overcoming some of the most common AI roadblocks. Insights into ways to create alignment across

The Chicago Board of Education signed off on a $6.9 billion operating budget amid warnings that hard decisions lay ahead if the federal government doesn’t come through with more coronavirus-related fiscal relief. The budget banks on $343 million of future federal aid. The junk-rated district received $206 million from the CARES Act signed March 27.