Bonds

A collection of bondholders and insurers of Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority debt are banding together in their opposition to the bankrupt utility’s proposal to slash its debt by 75%. GoldenTree Asset Management, Syncora Guarantee, Assured Guaranty and certain members of an ad hoc group of the power utility’s bondholders — which includes Invesco Advisers

Municipal interest rates will climb higher by yearend, market volatility will be the biggest challenge facing the industry heading into 2024 and issuance is likely to remain stagnant next year.  That’s according to respondents to The Bond Buyer’s Live Market Survey at the California Public Finance conference last week. The survey, sponsored by Fitch Ratings,

Longtime muni market veteran Steve Winterstein’s strong interest in technology has been a constant in the direction of his 30-year career. “I’ve always been deeply interested in technology, and how to make workflows a lot more efficient and effective,” Winterstein said. After decades in the business and working with other firms focusing on tech, most

A deal that emerged in federal bankruptcy court Tuesday to purchase an Arizona participant sports venue for $25.5 million would allocate just $2.2 million plus an 11% equity stake in the acquiring company to bondholders, who possess $284 million of the facility’s debt, according to a source familiar with the proposal. Burke Operating Partners would

The New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority has pulled off a hat trick with the rating agencies as it scored even more good news about its transportation revenue bonds. Fitch Ratings upgraded the MTA’s TRBs to A from A-minus and assigned a stable outlook to the bonds. A rider makes his way to the Wall Street subway

The Senate voted 98-0 to confirm Michael Whitaker, a career aviation executive, to the role of administrator for the Federal Aviation Administration after the positon had been vacant since March 2022. He becomes the first person appointed to lead the administration since Steve Dickson, the Trump-appointed aviation executive, resigned in March 2022. Polly Trottenberg, deputy

Municipals were slightly firmer Tuesday as large deals priced in the primary saw yields lowered upon repricing. U.S. Treasuries were firmer out long and equities rallied. The two-year muni-to-Treasury ratio Tuesday was at 71%, the three-year was at 72%, the five-year at 72%, the 10-year at 74% and the 30-year at 91%, according to Refinitiv

Municipal budgets are showing resilience which could dampen the need for issuing new debt, even as headwinds have grown to include congressional stalemate that has put the possibility of a government shutdown back on the table.   “A federal shutdown has many ripple effects,” said Farhadi Omeyr, program director, Research and Data, National League of Cities.

San Francisco City Administrator Carmen Chu started her keynote speech at last week’s California Public Finance with a love letter to the city. In the letter with which she opened her speech, she described the city as if it were a person that sometimes let her down, but also one that contained the ingredients and

A long-delayed U.S. pilot program that would charge drivers by the distance they travel will finally advance with the establishment of an advisory board to oversee the program. But that’s likely not soon enough to help inform Congress about the feasibility of the charges when lawmakers craft the next surface transportation reauthorization bill in 2026

The Chicago Board of Education plans to bring its general obligation bond credit to the market this week for the first time since the Federal Reserve began pushing up interest rates. The $600 million of GO bonds are secured by the full faith and credit and taxing power of the Chicago Board of Education, but

Some community colleges in California are learning a hard lesson about free money. The schools signed up to sell municipal securities whose debt service would be entirely covered by the loan and whose principal would be forgiven at maturity. They would never have to write a check. Now at least two schools are facing the

The top bond counsel firms combined for a total of $265.112 billion in 5,327 transactions during the first three quarters of 2023, down from the $291.768 billion in 6,400 deals over the same period in 2022. Only two firms remained in the same spot as in the prior last year: Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe and

New Jersey’s tax revenues have continued to slide in the new fiscal year, according to recently published figures. The state pulled in $4.8 billion in taxes in September, New Jersey’s Department of the Treasury said in its monthly revenue report, a year-over-year decline of 5.1% for the month and drop of 6.2% for the first

Municipal yields were little changed to weaker in spots Monday as large retail offerings were held for the Los Angeles Unified School District and the New York Power Authority. U.S. Treasuries made gains and equities were mixed. The two-year muni-to-Treasury ratio Monday was at 72%, the three-year was at 73%, the five-year at 73%, the

As prolonged and excessively high temperatures broiled parts of the Southwest this year, they were also cooling down the economy and highlighting state and local governments’ heat-related risks and needs. Record-breaking temperatures in Texas likely reduced the state’s gross domestic product by 1 percentage point or about $24 billion as some companies had a harder

New York-based Odeon Capital has agreed to pay a $60,000 fine to settle Financial Industry Regulatory Authority charges that the firm failed to report 225 municipal securities transactions in a timely manner and incorrectly reported 3,250 internal firm transfers that were not reportable to the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board’s Real-Time Transaction Reporting System. FINRA found

Jennifer Fredericks has joined Solve Advisors, Inc., a market data platform provider for fixed income securities, as sales director. Fredericks joins Solve after most recently working at Ice Miller LLP, where she was director of business development for public finance.   The hire is part of Solve’s deeper move into the municipal asset class and

Municipals took a breather Friday and were little changed ahead of a sizable new-issue calendar while underperforming a better U.S. Treasury market. Equities were in the red to close the session. Triple-A yields barely budged while USTs saw yields fall nine to 11 basis points on bonds in the three- to seven-year maturities and smaller

Maine is one step closer to realizing ambitions of a native offshore wind energy industry. The federal Bureau of Ocean Management on Thursday announced the findings of a study carried out in conjunction with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration identifying 3.5 million square acres in the Gulf of Maine they believe to be suitable

Federal Reserve policy makers risk slamming the brakes too hard on the economy by reacting aggressively to each data point that comes in, said Mohamed El-Erian, the chief economic adviser at Allianz SE. They should, he said, establish a longer-term vision for where interest-rate policy is heading. “You cannot drive a car without some understanding