Municipals cheapened across the yield curve Thursday, but outperformed U.S. Treasuries which sold off after better-than-anticipated payrolls numbers, leading the two- and 10-year to the highest levels since March. Equities ended down. Municipals could not ignore the large losses in USTs, though the July reinvestment dollars and lack of new-issue supply worked to stave off
Bonds
Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas President Lorie Logan said more interest-rate increases will likely be needed to spur meaningful disinflation and bring price-growth rates back to the central bank’s target. “I remain very concerned about whether inflation will return to target in a sustainable and timely way,” Logan said Thursday in remarks delivered at the
Most Michigan local governments are spending their federal pandemic aid on capital projects, while facing challenges from rising project costs and uncertainty about future funding. A new survey from the University of Michigan’s Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy shows that 80% of the state’s larger local governments reported problems with inflation and other
Hawaii lawmakers prioritized spending to bolster programs to aid its poorest residents and house homeless people in the $37.2 billion biennium operating budget signed by Gov. Josh Green last week. Homelessness has become such a widespread and entrenched problem in Western states that lawmakers are dedicating billions of dollars to help lessen it. It has
Fitch Ratings lifted Cleveland’s issuer rating into the double-A category over its growing reserves and income tax collections despite the impact of remote work refunds. Fitch rates just a small piece of the city’s general obligation debt but it’s now on par with Moody’s Investors Service and S&P Global Ratings in rating the city
San Francisco had its outlook revised to negative by Moody’s Investors Service, with analysts pointing to the financial and economic headwinds facing the city. The city maintained a stable financial performance throughout the pandemic, but now anticipates reserve draws from fiscal 2023 through 2025, Moody’s analysts said. It also projects out-year deficits through 2028, although
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson tapped state banking regulator Chasse Rehwinkel to fill the city comptroller’s position, a choice that completes his picks for the city’s top fiscal posts. The comptroller manages the collection or disbursement of city revenues and all funds required to be in the custody of the city treasurer. The chief financial officer, budget director,
Municipals were little changed Wednesday as U.S. Treasuries were weaker after the release of the Federal Open Market Committee meeting minutes showed more tightening is likely on the way. Equities were in the red to close the session. The secondary was uneven but triple-A yield curves were mostly steady, as municipals are wont to do
Investment losses last year eroded funding ratio gains achieved a year earlier by Chicago’s pension system, casting a shadow over a healthy pickup of taxes on the city’s audited financial results. The city’s overall net position for accounting purposes deteriorated to negative $27.6 billion in 2022 from negative $27.1 billion in 2021 due to growth
Federal Reserve officials were less united at their June meeting than their unanimous decision suggested, as some favored interest-rate increases but went along with the move to leave policy unchanged. “Almost all participants judged it appropriate or acceptable to maintain the target range for the federal funds rate at 5% to 5.25%,” minutes from the
Florida’s Brightline passenger train is hoping to snag its first public rating ahead of a potential refinancing to lower interest rates on a chunk of project revenue bonds. The refinancing, expected in the next six to 12 months, comes after the express train hits a key milestone later this summer when it launches service on
S&P Global Ratings signaled Dallas Fort Worth International Airport could be upgraded in the future as it revised the outlook on the airport’s A-plus rating to positive from stable ahead of about $1.2 billion in bond issuance planned for this summer. The rating agency said the airport, which it upgraded a notch from A last
The Federal Reserve is close to the end of its hiking cycle, inflation will slow, and recession is likely, analysts said in their second half forecasts. Wells Fargo Investment Institute expects the fed funds rate to rise another 25 basis points from the current 5%-5.25% range, before 2024 cuts bring the rate down to a
For the first time in more than 30 years, the Florida Insurance Guaranty Association tapped the municipal bond market, selling tax-exempt fixed-rate bonds last week to help fund claims from insolvent insurance companies in the state. FIGA is set to head back to the market next week with a $125 million variable-rate deal. BofA Securities,
Municipals were little changed ahead of the Fourth of July, while U.S. Treasuries were weaker and equities ended up. Triple-A yields were steady, while UST yields rose three to eight basis points. Municipal to UST ratios fell as a result. The two-year muni-to-Treasury ratio Monday was at 59%, the three-year at 61%, the five-year at
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy averted a government shutdown Friday, signing into law a record-setting $54.3 billion fiscal 2024 spending plan hours ahead of a July 1 budget deadline. The budget records an $8.3 billion surplus and features $5.4 billion of new spending in addition to major tax code changes and tax-relief provisions. For the
The Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, a U.S. territory, “is at risk of a severe fiscal crisis,” according to a U.S. Government Accounting Office report. The CNMI had $114 million of debt outstanding as of September 2020, much of it bond debt, according to its most recent audited statement. The government at that time
Illinois headed into the new fiscal year with fresh deposits to its rainy-day and pension stabilization funds, a low bill balance, and $1 billion in available general revenue funds — hitting several high marks on some fiscal metrics that had sunk during the state’s budget impasse six years ago. The state ended the year with
Ballard Spahr has promoted three public finance attorneys to partners the firm announced. The public finance lawyers include Charles Treece, Azer Akhtar, both in Washington, D.C., and Jennifer Santangelo in Philadelphia. They were among the seven attorneys Ballard Spahr elected to the firm’s partnership on July 1. Treece’s practice focuses on representing government-sponsored enterprises and
16Rock Asset Management LLC has launched a new hedge fund aimed at using a multi-strategy approach to capture the $4 trillion municipal markets’ recurring opportunities. The new fund, which launched Saturday and is open to trade, is called the 16Rock Municipal Opportunities Fund LP and will compete in the small universe of municipal hedge funds.
Robert Benecke and firm Benecke Economics have been charged by the Securities and Exchange Commission for acting as an unregistered municipal advisor to three municipalities in New Jersey in a case that is emblematic of what many view as a growing problem nine years after final effectiveness of the municipal advisor registration rule. For his