Bonds

A plan to modify outstanding Puerto Rico Industrial Development Company debt with an upfront cash payment and a new series of longer-dated taxable bonds, which had overwhelming support of bondholders, was approved by U.S. District Court Judge Laura Taylor Swain Wednesday. The PRIDCO bonds, federally taxable, have $150 million in principal outstanding ($189.6 million when

The Biden administration will award $6 billion to a pair of high-speed train projects in the west, marking the strongest federal support to date for a technology that has struggled to get off the ground in the U.S. “The dream of American high-speed rail is about to become reality,” Ray LaHood, former U.S. Secretary of

Municipal experts say buying attractively priced tax-exempt securities in the final weeks of 2023 could benefit portfolios well into 2024. With only a few short weeks left until year end, investors still have time to lock in value and historically attractive yields in the municipal bond market, according to analysts. Even with the latest rally,

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board is seeking applications to fill three positions, two public representatives and one regulated representative, for its board of directors for the 2025 fiscal year. The application window will be open from Jan. 2 until Feb. 9 and can be submitted through the MSRB’s Board of Directors Application Portal. “Ensuring the

The North Carolina Local Government Commission has approved the North Carolina Turnpike Authority’s request to issue up to $1.1 billion of revenue bonds and secure a Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act loan. At its Tuesday meeting, the LCG approved the authority’s plans to finance over $1 billion of work on Phase 2 of the

The city of Chicago and its Sales Tax Securitization Corporation won The Bond Buyer’s 22nd annual Deal of the Year award for its $1.7 billion financing that addressed initiatives related to affordable housing, homelessness support services, environmental justice, and community development. The issuance, which was the Deal of the Year in the Midwest category, included

Municipals improved amid a large new-issue slate pricing in the primary while U.S. Treasuries were back in the black and equities were mixed throughout the day. Triple-A yields fell three to four basis points, depending on the scale, while USTs saw the largest gains out long. The primary market is robust this week, with several

Gov. Ron DeSantis announced his “Focus on Florida’s Future” budget proposal for fiscal 2024–2025 totals $114.4 billion, down $4.6 billion from the current fiscal year’s budget. Tuesday’s budget proposal keeps $16.3 billion in reserves while paying down an additional $455 million in debt and providing $1.1 billion in tax relief. Gov. Ron DeSantis, 2024 Republican

South Carolina has removed the Walt Disney Co. from its list of approved investments, State Treasurer Curtis Loftis said Tuesday. Loftis’ office said its portfolio contains $105 million of Disney debt securities that will mature as scheduled and will not be replaced. “Disney has abandoned its fiduciary responsibilities to its investors and customers,” said South

Karen Bass is marking her one-year anniversary as Los Angeles mayor by showing how federal dollars will be put to work for green projects and taking credit for the post-merger relocation of a regional bank to the city. Banc of California Inc., which just acquired rival PacWest Bancorp in a rescue deal, is moving its

A proposed crude oil-transporting Utah railway project, which would be financed with private-activity bonds, will officially lose key federal approval next week, following another legal setback this week. The District of Columbia-based U.S. Appeals Court on Monday denied a request by the Uinta Basin Railway and Utah’s Seven County Infrastructure Coalition for a full court

The Treasury Department said Monday that it’s seen a “remarkable” response to a clean energy tax credits program for wind and solar energy projects in low-income communities, with applications in the first month totaling more than four times the 2023 capacity for the program. President Joe Biden’s 2022 Inflation Reduction Act created the  Low-Income Communities

Federal appeals court judges heard Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority bond parties’ request to lift a stay or hold a hearing on it, so they could appoint a receiver to run PREPA, hoping they’d receive more for their bonds than under the Oversight Board’s plan. “The bottom line of all this is that municipal bonds

Six years ago, amid much hoopla, Foxconn Technology Group announced plans to invest $10 billion in a manufacturing plant in Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin. Those plans, laden with state and local incentives, came far from fully materializing. But a new deal with Microsoft may help fill the void. Last week, the village of Mount Pleasant and

Municipal bond supply projections for 2024 so far are at a high of $450 billion and a low of $330 billion, with most firms anticipating issuance next year will surpass 2023’s lackluster total. While most firms forecast issuance to rise year-over-year, the figures they present are less than the record levels hit in 2020 and

Two years into a public-private partnership to rebuild and take over the New York State Thruway Authority’s service areas, the project is 225 days behind schedule, a delay that has led to a technical default and prompted Fitch Ratings to revise its outlook to negative from stable. AECOM Tishman, the design-build contractor who is responsible

The City Colleges of Chicago is planning to issue $201 million in unlimited tax GO refunding bonds next year, bolstered by one rating upgrade and another new positive rating outlook. The proceeds will help manage debt service on a 2013 issuance.   S&P Global Ratings upgraded the district’s longstanding BBB rating to BBB-plus, with a stable

Municipals were little changed Monday, while U.S. Treasuries were weaker and equities ended down. November was a “positive month” for munis as triple-A yields fell on an average of 89 basis points, bringing month-to-date returns of 6.35% and pushing year-to-date returns to 3.98% through the end of the month, Jason Wong, vice president of municipals

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board has issued a request for information asking how its rules and market regulation generally affects small firms operating in the muni market. The request asks firms eleven specific questions such as what are those factors that make a regulated entity, small, medium or large, what rules have had a disproportionate

Another private college in New York is shutting its doors after struggling financially and said it won’t make further interest payments to investors on its municipal bonds. The College of Saint Rose, a private Roman Catholic school in Albany, said Friday it plans to close after this academic year. It was founded in 1920 as

A trio of Chapter 11 bankruptcies filed by Southwest nonprofit entities this year in the wake of bond impairments are closer to wrapping up their cases in federal court with the help of asset sales or debt restructuring.  Legacy Cares, which filed for bankruptcy in May after defaulting on $284 million of revenue bonds to