Bonds

U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi rolled out its HEROES Act on Tuesday without the promised innovative municipal bonds. By the afternoon, Larry Kudlow, the Director of the White House National Economic Council, was on Fox News telling Sean Hannity that President Donald Trump was going to take the legislation under consideration, however the

The municipal market saw yields grind lower Thursday by as much as seven basis points on the short end. Triple-A benchmark yields on the long end declined four basis points. Yields on all triple-A benchmark curves out to nine years are now below 1%. The largest bumps were again on the very short end of

Colorado needs to cut $3.3 billion from the budget for fiscal year 2021 after the largest revenue drop in the state’s history, officials said. “This pandemic is affecting the global economy, and Colorado is not immune to this economic crisis,” said Gov. Jared Polis. “This is a challenging budgetary environment, and everyone is working hard

Illinois may jump into the market with its $1 billion long-term general obligation bond deal as soon as Wednesday. Late Tuesday, syndicate members on the negotiated issue were told that the state was preparing to enter the market and to join a call with the state and its financial advisors set for early Wednesday morning.

The threats posed by the COVID-19 pandemic on Chicago Transit Authority and Regional Transportation Authority of Illinois revenues led Moody’s Investor Service to revise both agencies’ outlook to negative from stable. In its action last week, Moody’s affirmed the RTA’s sales tax bonds at A2 and downgraded the RTA’s general obligation variable rate bonds to

Puerto Rico bankruptcy Judge Laura Taylor Swain has postponed to June 4 from May 13 a hearing concerning a lift stay motion for more than $5.5 billion in Puerto Rico Highways and Transportation Authority, Puerto Rico Infrastructure Authority, and Convention Center District Authority bonds. U.S. District Judge Laura Taylor Swain ordered a lift stay hearing

California could face budget deficits until at least 2023-24, with multi-year deficits totaling between $64 billion in a U-shaped recession or $126 billion if the country experiences an L-shaped recession, according to a report released Friday by the state Legislative Analyst’s Office. “There is an unusually high level of uncertainty at this point,” Legislative Analyst

The short end of the municipal curve rallied hard on Friday as ratios enticed crossover buyers, investors considered the potential for a negative Fed funds rate, and the Fed buying on the one- to three-year pushed yields down by as much as 15 basis points. Triple-A benchmarks also saw bumps out longer of three to

Projections for U.S. unemployment hitting 20% or higher may be too severe, according to a paper released Thursday by the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland. The authors forecast the jobless rate for April would come in at 12% and top out at 16% in May, assuming that social distancing measures end some time in June.

Citi has hired Kroll Bond Rating Agency analyst Alice Cheng to help lead its Institutional Clients Group. Cheng, who spent the past six years as a rating analyst for Kroll’s public finance team, began her new role in April as a senior vice president of Citi’s Institutional Clients Group in New York covering its public

Illinois backed away from a Wednesday pricing of $1.2 billion in one-year general obligation certificates, moving the competitive sale to the day-to-day calendar as fiscal headwinds threaten to impose steep yield penalties. “They need the money but at what price?” said Brian Battle, director of trading at Performance Trust Capital Partners. “There’s going to be

The coronavirus pandemic could do lasting harm to U.S. productivity unless the nation adapts to the realities of living with COVID-19, says Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond President Thomas Barkin. “Increased debt loads, reduced bank lending capacity and diminished confidence surely will have a meaningful impact on investment, through which much productivity enhancement occurs,” Barkin

The municipal market rallied Friday with high-grades leading the trading early on and AAA benchmark yields falling 10 to 11 basis points across the curve. Municipal to U.S. Treasury ratios dropped dramatically on the 10-year. The MMD muni to taxable ratio was 210.0% on the 10-year and 168.5% on the 30-year. Thursday, the MMD muni

Bond insurers and other involved parties filed three replies Thursday defending their claims to revenues from the Puerto Rico Highways and Transportation Authority, Puerto Rico Infrastructure and Finance Authority, and Convention Center District Authority that pay off more than $5.5 billion of outstanding bonds. The filings come in advance of a “lift stay” hearing May

Texas sales tax collections for April fell 9.3% from the previous year to $2.58 billion, the sharpest drop since January 2010 and the end of 31 straight months of year-over-year growth. The April figures represent sales in March, a month in which the effects of business shutdowns to slow the sprad of the coronavirus began

Illinois headed into the COVID-19 pandemic in weaker overall fiscal shape than the previous year as tax revenue fell short of offsetting the state’s obligations. The state’s net position of governmental activities for fiscal year 2019 eroded by $4 billion, pushing the deficit up to a negative $193.1 billion from $189.1 billion, according to the

The belly of the municipal yield curve is experiencing little constructive activity as participants rely on the Federal Reserve for short-end support and put their trust in the ultimate recovery of issuers with long-end investment. The primary digested a massive $1.12 billion bond offering from New York Power Authority. The entire deal was structured to

The secondary market saw yields rise again by at least five or six basis points. New deals were priced but issuers faced yield concessions. The market isn’t facing 50-basis-point swings, but its footing is still off as participants grapple with the long-term effects of the pandemic. Additionally, the market will potentially see bonds maturing in

A Puerto Rico COVID-19 medical task force recommended the staged opening of the island’s economy. The task force presented its recommendations to Gov. Wanda Vázquez Garced, who appointed its members. It said that those areas with the least likely transmission of the virus should be opened first, progressively followed by others with that had higher

The coronavirus has had a marked impact on the municipal market, with historical price deterioration on even some of the strongest, highest-rated paper. To understand buying opportunities or when making a decision to hold or sell an existing position, data-driven research on a municipality with a focus on key economic factors, relative to other municipalities,

The secondary muni market was dislocated Friday with high-grade block trading showing swings in yields and rate volatility and price discovery remain problematic for investors and issuers alike. After a week of large issuers bringing sizable deals, Friday did not fully commit to a more stabilized muni market. The news out of Washington did not

Cook County, Illinois, is bracing for a $200 million tax blow due to the economic shutdown brought about by COVID-19, the county’s finance team said Friday. That doesn’t account for an additional $60 million to $75 million whack to health system revenues, though some of that is expected to be reimbursed with hospital-related federal relief.

The next COVID-19 federal relief package should direct aid to municipalities to help replace lost revenue and smaller cities should receive a share, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Thursday. While a series of packages have provided help on the expense side of dealing with the pandemic including the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act

Wisconsin drew 15 bids and new investor interest on its first green-designated bonds as it stepped into a growing primary market Wednesday with $80 million of its triple-A state revolving fund bonds. Barclays submitted the winning bid on the competitive sale with a true interest cost of 2.64%. The cover bid came from Morgan Stanley

Trading in the secondary market saw AAA benchmark yields rise by three to five basis points but the primary market showed signs of life with several larger new deals getting done at appropriate levels given current market conditions as the coronavirus continues to ravage state and local credit quality. The municipal market weakened a little

As California and America look forward to relaxing restrictions, it’s time to look ahead to meeting the onrushing financial crisis. The coronavirus has created such a massive disruption to the world’s stock markets that almost all California public employee defined-benefit pension plans will never recover. At a minimum, they must be put on a fiscal

House Financial Services Committee Chairwoman Maxine Waters, D- Calif., wants the Federal Reserve to increase the parameters of its short-term note program and extend help to the secondary market. In a letter sent to Fed Chair Jerome Powell Thursday night, Waters said that, while the Fed’s Municipal Liquidity Facility helps provide liquidity to states and

The Illinois Regional Transportation Authority plans to raise its short-term borrowing to help manage liquidity as the agency awaits federal help that should offset an expected $958 million blow to tax and farebox revenues caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. “We were originally going to do $150 million, but given the COVID situation we decided to

The municipal market was mostly quiet Friday as participants came off a week of a strong rally, an awakened new-issue market and the first fund inflows since February as they cautiously await another week with more deals on tap and continued questions of support out of Washington. Triple A benchmarks showed slight weakness with most

Illinois now carries three ratings at the lowest rung of investment grade after Fitch Ratings downgraded the state Thursday. Fitch cut the state’s issuer default and general obligation ratings by one level to BBB-minus from BBB, and also lowered its outlook to negative from stable, signaling its poor view of the state’s ability to weather