Municipal bond prices weakened again Monday as the market looked ahead to a $6.3 billion slate of sales led by two big deals from issuers in Texas and Florida. Municipals continued the selloff seen last week, with yields rising Monday by as many as 12 basis points. Treasury yields also rose while stock prices ended
Bonds
Indicted Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., has been a long-time advocate of key public finance issues and is so far resisting calls to resign his seat in Congress. Menendez, indicted last week on federal bribery charges, has already stepped aside as chairman of the powerful Foreign Relations Committee, but his influence on financial legislation could continue
The Napa Valley Community College District, California, saw its negative rating outlook removed by Moody’s after its financial situation approved. Moody’s affirmed the district’s Aa3 rating. Moody’s had assigned the negative outlook June 13, 2022, after the college came under review by the Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team, which is a state organization charged
Cities across the country can participate in class-action claims against a group of Wall Street banks accused of rigging interest rates on local variable-rate bonds during a nearly eight-year period, a federal judge ruled Thursday. Judge Jesse Furman of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York granted class certification to consolidated claims
Oklahoma lawmakers will meet in a special session next month called by Gov. Kevin Stitt, who wants to put the state on a path to zero income taxes and proposed a trigger law related to the state’s future ability to tax certain Native Americans. In a post on X, the message platform formerly known as Twitter,
The Secure and Fair Enforcement Regulation Banking Act, a bipartisan bill introduced last week that would give communities and small cannabis businesses access to financial institutions, has a strong chance of passing and has already garnered the support of local government groups. The bill will be marked up on Wednesday in the Senate Committee on
Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago President Austan Goolsbee said it’s possible for the U.S. to avoid a recession even as the central bank raises interest rates to cool inflation. “I’ve been calling that the golden path and I think it’s possible, but there are a lot of risks and the path is long and winding,”
Former longtime Citi head of municipal strategy Vikram Rai has landed at Wells Fargo, where will join the municipal credit strategy team as senior strategist. The firm confirmed that Rai joined Wells on Monday. He will report to Matt Rosenberg and Chris Lee, co-heads of sales and trading. Longtime head of municipal strategy at Citi
S&P Global Ratings said Friday it revised Pennsylvania’s credit outlook to positive from stable. At the same time, S&P affirmed its A-plus long-term rating on the state’s $10.7 billion of outstanding general obligation bonds. S&P said the outlook reflects “our view that Pennsylvania has continued to make progress toward structural budgetary balance, with positive operating
Munis were weaker Friday ahead of a larger new-issue calendar. U.S. Treasuries saw yields fall, and equities ended the trading session up. The two-year muni-to-Treasury ratio Friday was at 66%, the three-year was at 67%, the five-year at 68%, the 10-year at 71% and the 30-year at 90%, according to Refinitiv MMD’s 3 p.m. read.
Nuveen’s former longtime head of municipals John Miller has landed at New York-based First Eagle Investments, where he will oversee the firm’s debut in the municipal bond market. Miller, 56, is expected to join the firm in January, where he will set up a new muni department that will focus on junk bonds, his specialty
Legislation that would update Internal Revenue Service rules governing debt financing for small to mid-sized manufacturers and farmers is getting a fresh push in the Senate. The Modernizing Agricultural and Manufacturing Bonds Act is sponsored by Sens. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and Joni Ernst, R-Iowa. “By modernizing and clarifying the rules for aggie bonds and industrial development
Bondholders may have actionable claims related to the sale of now-defaulted debt that financed an Arizona participant sports venue for Legacy Cares Inc., which filed for bankruptcy in May, according to a disclosure notice. Law firm Davis & Ceriani “has concluded that there may be actionable claims related to the sale of the bonds that
New Jersey’s American Dream Mall reported a $245 million loss as costs increases outstripped modest revenue gains in 2022. According to a three-page financial document posted on the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board’s EMMA bond disclosure website Monday, the mall, developed with help of large public financing package, reported a loss four times bigger than the
California State Controller Malia Cohen has agreed to chair a task force to establish audit criteria and best practices to detect and curtail charter school fraud following a case that cost the state hundreds of millions of dollars. Cohen said she stepped forward when she learned of the prosecution of the San Diego charter school
Dustin Jones’ story captures the inability of New York’s public transit agency to serve a significant portion of the public. Trying to take the subway to a meeting of the Center for the Independence of the Disabled, New York, in 2017, Jones, a wheelchair user, couldn’t enter the 5 train, which went directly from his
Morgan Stanley’s desire for future municipal bond business from high-speed rail operator Brightline Holdings drove the bank to lie about terms of a key credit agreement, a pair of private equity firms claimed Monday in a lawsuit filed against the bank and Brightline in a New York court. Certares Management LLC and Knighthead Capital Management
Munis sold off Thursday, joining bond markets and equities in a rout after the Fed signaled that interest rates would be higher for longer. The Federal Open Market Committee held rates steady Wednesday, as expected, but signaled another hike this year. Munis were steady Wednesday but triple-A yields were cut eight to 16 basis points
Ignoring a hesitance to cut rates at the Fed, recession worries, and a federal shutdown threat, many state and local governments are still flush with revenue resulting in Indiana muni bonds being paid off early. “We’ve defeased pretty much every bond that we can at this point,” said Zac Jackson, Indiana’s budget director, during a
Enjoy complimentary access to top ideas and insights — selected by our editors. Readers: For the 22nd year, The Bond Buyer editorial board will identify and recognize the year’s most outstanding municipal finance transactions. As always, we will be looking for deals that exemplify the creativity and resourcefulness this industry brings to bear on projects
The jury is still out on San Francisco’s fiscal health, though the tech layoffs didn’t appear to be the death knell that was predicted. The city’s outlook was revised to negative by Moody’s Investors Service in July with analysts citing outyear deficits projected through 2028 and expectations it would draw on reserves in fiscal 2023