Bonds

U.S. Treasuries sold off Friday after payrolls came in much hotter than expected, leading economists and traders to pare back rate cut expectations. The municipal market could not ignore the moves and triple-A yields rose, but outperformed taxables to a large extent, pushing ratios lower. Equities rallied on the news, pushing the Dow to close

Taxpayers shoulder a heavy burden for sports stadium subsidies, the Tax Foundation said this week. Reams of research shows that using bonds to finance sports stadiums and arenas do not generate enough revenue to justify the costs, the foundation said in a blog post Thursday. “According to the academic research, the tangible economic benefits job

Dennis J. Enright, founding principal of NW Financial Group and NW Capital Markets, has died, the New Jersey-based firm announced Thursday. He was 76. Enright’s career spanned a half-century, and he was a pioneer in many now-common financing strategies.  “He was a premier banker, always innovating and searching for client solutions that would save money,”

The California Infrastructure and Economic Development Bank board of directors approved $26 million in loan financing for the city of Santa Cruz for two wastewater improvement system projects, IBank officials said Thursday. The funding will help the city replace and upgrade decades-old equipment with the aim of preventing costly repairs, protecting pipelines from corrosion, improving

The next generation of public policymakers and public finance practitioners will mingle with current municipal finance pros at a career forum hosted by the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy’s Center for Municipal Finance. During the week of Oct. 14, the CMF will hold lunchtime seminars designed to help interested students get the

The end of a brief strike by longshoremen at East and Gulf Coast ports eases immediate credit concerns for the ports, although the lynchpin of the agreement, a 62% salary increase, may nibble away at the bottom lines for some ports over the long term. The strike between the International Longshoremen’s Association representing 45,000 workers

After taking a hit in the wake of the deadly 2023 wildfire that devastated the West Maui town of Lahaina, municipal bonds issued for investor-owned utility Hawaiian Electric are on an upswing. The debt, trading in the secondary market as low as 63 cents on the dollar last year, had recovered to the 95 and

Municipals faced some pressure Thursday as U.S. Treasuries saw losses amid geopolitical uncertainty and mixed macroeconomic data ahead of Friday’s payrolls figure while equities were off near the close. The last large new-issues priced in the primary and secondary trading pointed to some weakness, leading to small cuts to triple-A yield curves.  Municipal bond mutual

Moody’s Ratings upgraded about $900 million of various Florida special tax debt as well as its Garvee bonds Tuesday stemming in part from the application of the agency’s new U.S. states and territories rating methodology. The rating agency upgraded $317.5 million of lottery revenue bonds to Aa1 from Aa3 issued through the Florida State Board

The House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure prides itself on staying away from drama, but could witness a post-election power struggle for leadership, as industry groups hedge their post-election bets.   “Depending on which party is in the majority, APTA’s strategy and tactics, particularly our messaging, may change,” said Paul P. Skoutelas, American Public Transportation Association

Amtrak’s poor planning could mean more delays and cost overruns on its largest infrastructure project, a $6 billion replacement of the Baltimore-Potomac tunnel, Amtrak’s inspector general said in a new audit. Amtrak is starting to address the planning problems by beefing up staff, but initially it did not have an effective management structure or enough

The Securities and Exchange Commission has charged Thrivent Investment Management for violating the obligations in Regulation Best Interest when brokers for the firm recommended Class A mutual fund shares instead of Class C mutual fund shares in Illinois and Nebraska 529 Savings Plans. Without admitting or denying the findings, the firm has agreed to a

Amid an onslaught of outsized new issuance, many deals have been oversubscribed as buyers clamor for paper, particularly in the high-yield space and from specialty states. “It’s been a bit of a fight for deals that come to the primary market,” said Jon Mondillo, global head of Fixed Income at abrdn. Despite issuance up 35.2%

The devastation Hurricane Helene rained on the mountain region of western North Carolina can be handled financially by governments in the short term but other municipal issuers may struggle and the long term is cloudy, analysts say. Helene hammered the area from Friday through Sunday, bringing rainfall amounts up to 31.3 inches, hurricane winds up

Municipals were a touch softer Wednesday, but outperformed U.S. Treasury weakness as investors focused on the primary market with several large new-issues pricing to solid demand. Equities were in the black to close the session. Triple-A yield curves were little changed to weaker by one to four basis points, depending on the curve, while Treasuries

There were many “trailblazers” at the Muni Pride LGBTQ+ History Month Social Mixer, Connecticut Treasurer Erick Russell said in his speech at the event.  “Even if you aren’t a first, say, for your profession, or a first in your organization, the worlds of finance and law and government have not always been the best when

An agreement that could lead to the issuance of up to $900 million of bonds to finance the renovation of a major league sports arena in Salt Lake City and the development of a downtown district was approved late Tuesday by the city council. The debt would be paid off with revenue from a 0.5%,

As affordable housing has stepped into the spotlight in the presidential election, including during Tuesday’s vice-presidential debate, Vice President Kamala Harris is touting transit-oriented development as a way to increase housing in urban areas. “Some of the work is going to be through what we do in terms of giving benefits and assistance to state

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board has approved a $48.8 million budget for the 2025 fiscal year, a 2.9% increase from the prior year and its first after the Securities and Exchange Commission suspended its FY2024 rate card and after the board conducted a couple of stakeholders meetings on its budgeting process. For FY 2025,  $15.1

Investortools and ficc.ai have partnered to stream the latter’s predictive trade levels into the former’s Investortools Dealer Network. This integration gives Investortools’ clients greater “AI-driven pricing intelligence,” allowing them to make more informed decisions and have the flexibility to incorporate their preferred real-time pricing data providers, according to a press release. Through the integration, Investortool’s

The Securities and Exchange Commission has closed out its case against Matthias O’Meara and Choice Advisors, who acted as unregistered municipal advisors and were the first to be charged under MSRB Rule G-42 on the duties of non-solicitor municipal advisors, winning judgments of $312,572 for O’Meara and $187,337 for Choice. That comes after the U.S.