Municipals faced rising yields in the secondary market Wednesday while large new-issues priced in the primary market. U.S. Treasuries were weaker again, and equities saw more losses. The Investment Company Institute Wednesday reported large inflows into municipal bond mutual funds for the week ending Jan. 10, with investors adding $2.066 billion to funds following $77
admin
Rishi Sunak’s election supremo Isaac Levido this week issued a stark warning to Tory MPs, telling them: “Divided parties fail.” But the Conservative rebellion over the government’s Rwanda asylum bill over the last 48 hours is an ominous sign for the prime minister that the warning is not being heeded. Tory MPs may have pulled
Republican lawmakers in Arizona pushed back on aspects of Gov. Katie Hobbs’ proposed fiscal 2025 budget, particularly its targeting of rising costs for the state’s universal school voucher program. The spending plan, which was unveiled by the Democratic governor Friday and had its first airing Tuesday before the Republican-controlled legislature’s Joint Appropriations Committee, aims to
As a potential government shutdown looms and tax season is set to open, key provisions friendly to the municipal market tied to low-income housing tax credits appear poised to become law in legislation aimed at avoiding the government stoppage. The Republican-chaired House Ways and Means Committee and the Democrat-led Senate Finance Committee have preliminary agreements
Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Caxton Associates, one of the oldest and best-known global macro hedge fund managers, lost money in its two main funds in 2023, say two people who have seen the numbers, in a turbulent year for
Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Argentina’s libertarian President Javier Milei has accused western leaders of abandoning “the values of the west” in a high-profile address to the World Economic Forum, where his debut on the world stage met with warm
The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board’s 2023 audited financials show the board ended the year with $76.2 million in total assets, an $8 million jump from the $68 million it ended 2022 with, as well as $49 million in total revenue, a $19 million gain from the $30 million it collected the prior year. “The value
Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt is bringing lawmakers back into a special session on a tax cut after his plan to phase out income taxes failed to pass during a session last fall. The session, set to begin Jan. 29, will take up a 0.25% personal income tax reduction. “With record-breaking savings and a strong economic
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy on Tuesday signed into law a bill permitting municipalities in the state to sell bonds of up to 20 years to finance the purchase of fire engines and other public safety equipment. Previously, they could only sell bonds of up to 10 years to pay for such equipment. The bill
Cities and states have joined a chorus of critics urging federal regulators to revise or halt proposed capital requirements for large banks dubbed the Basel III endgame. In a letter filed Tuesday ahead of the Jan. 16 public comment deadline, the Government Finance Officers Association joined with six other municipal market industry groups in laying
The University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy’s Center for Municipal Finance is joining forces with Investortools, a fixed income software and data company, to make more data on the municipal finance sector available to academics. It’s the first step in an expansion of the center’s resources as it looks to become the premier
New York City Mayor Eric Adams released a balanced $109.4 billion preliminary budget for fiscal 2025 that keeps a near-record level of reserves. The city faced a $7.1 billion budget gap due to the growing migrant crisis, declining federal COVID-19 stimulus funding, rising expenses from labor contracts and slowing tax revenue growth. The Adams administration implemented a citywide hiring freeze
A home is constructed at a housing development on June 21, 2023 in Lemont, Illinois. Scott Olson | Getty Images Homebuilder sentiment improved in January, jumping 7 points to 44 on the National Association of Home Builders monthly index. Anything below 50 is still considered negative, but the index has now moved 10 points higher
Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the UK inflation myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. December’s unexpected rise in UK inflation is a setback for those who had hoped the Bank of England was already entering the home straight of its long journey to restore price stability. The figures, showing
Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the War in Ukraine myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. The European parliament has threatened legal action against Ursula von der Leyen’s decision to unfreeze part of Hungary’s EU funding in order to secure Viktor Orbán’s support for Ukraine. In a heated debate on
Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. It is a rare politician who takes on a complex problem that offers little electoral dividend just ahead of an election they expect to lose. This reality is troubling Labour strategists who fear that Conservatives
The state of Wisconsin is embarking on a flurry of debt-related activity as the year begins, with a cash defeasance and three refunding deals that may include tenders on the table in the first quarter. The defeasance was made possible by the state’s 2023-25 biennial budget, which included $400 million to pay down outstanding general
Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Saudi Aramco is beefing up its global venture capital arm with a $4bn cash injection as part of a wider push to diversify the kingdom’s oil-dependent economy. The extra money for Aramco Ventures would more
Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Every leader has their blind spots. In Joe Biden’s case, his seeming indifference to Palestinians could prove costly. Ten thousand Palestinian children have been killed in the past 100 days, according to Save the Children.
Prospective home buyers visit a home for sale during an Open House in a neighborhood in Clarksburg, Maryland on September 3, 2023. Homeownership feels increasingly out of reach for younger generations of Americans, who are squeezed by student debt and childcare costs in an era of slower economic growth. The pressures come as President Joe
Gilts go up. Gilts go down. But in financial market lingo, gilts are ‘risk-free’ sterling bonds. That’s because governments with their own currency — like Britain’s — can literally make up new IOUs to repay bonds. As the Reserve Bank of Australia explains: The expression ‘risk free’ is used because governments are not expected to