Bonds

The House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure has introduced the Securing Growth and Robust Leadership in American Aviation Act, a bipartisan bill that would reauthorize the Federal Aviation Administration’s funding over the next five years, expanding the Airport Improvement Program and including a number of improvements aimed at improving workforce and services of the aviation

Deploying greater use of bond financing to cure the county’s affordable housing shortage is getting a fresh look in the Senate via the Affordable Housing Bond Enhancement Act. The bill, which was introduced Tuesday, is cosponsored by Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev. and Bill Cassidy, R-La. The legislation takes aim at expanding the use of mortgage

Fresh off two successful municipal bond sales, the city of New York plans to keep moving ahead with the bond issuance that funds its capital program. On June 1, the city sold $1.56 billion of general obligation bonds in a deal comprised of $1.41 billion of tax-exempts and $151 million of taxables. Proceeds refinanced outstanding bonds for savings. The city

James Molloy, head of municipal banking at Citigroup Global Markets for the past five years, will soon be leaving to pursue a long-time career objective of working in the non-profit sector. Dan Tomson and Paul Creedon, co-heads of public finance at Citi, will take over Molloy’s responsibilities and will serve as co-heads of municipal banking.

Preston Hollow Community Capital and Nuveen expect to close next month on a deal giving Nuveen a stake in its smaller rival in the high-yield muni space. The investment featured prominently in a settlement ending PHCC’s four-year-old legal pursuit of Nuveen for using what one judge labeled as “lies” and “threats” to damage its access

Gov. Kay Ivey made Alabama the latest GOP-dominated state to enact a law designed to limit the application of environmental, social, or governance factors by private sector businesses. SB261, which took a little under a month to make it from committee proposal through the Republican-dominated state legislature to the governor’s desk, seeks to shield some

Municipals were steady Thursday as several larger deals priced and inflows returned to municipal bond mutual funds after 16 straight weeks of outflows. U.S. Treasuries were firmer and equities were up near the close. The two-year muni-Treasury ratio Thursday was at 65%, the three-year at 68%, the five-year at 69%, the 10-year at 70% and

The North Carolina Local Government Commission gave approval Tuesday for Wilmington officials to sell $70 million of bonds to buy a 12-story downtown building as it consolidates city agencies into one place. Most bond sales in the state must be approved by the commission, which is chaired by State Treasurer Dale Folwell and reviews if

The House Ways and Means Committee approved legislation Wednesday renewing aviation taxes for five years, a key piece of the Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization that’s a must-pass Congressional priority this summer. HR 3796 passed along party lines, with Democrats complaining the bill was rushed and contained a surprise border patrol earmark benefiting a top Republican

Municipal market participants looking for signs about what the future holds for interest rates received a prediction of a pause in hikes from a Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association-sponsored roundtable of economists Wednesday. The Federal Open Market Committee is scheduled to meet next week with many experts expecting to see a pause in federal

Bond lawyer requests for clarifications on Internal Revenue Service rules affecting municipal finance are so far eliciting no answers from the IRS, leading the National Association of Bond Lawyers to send a letter to the agency requesting a response to some issues that date back to 2018.   The letter comes from NABL president Jodie Smith of Maynard Nexsen,

The San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District, facing continued steep pandemic-driven ridership declines, received a two-notch downgrade on its general obligation bonds from S&P Global Ratings, even as a bevy of state lawmakers plead with colleagues to include a transit rescue package in the budget. BART’s GO rating fell to A-plus from AA, but

Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority bondholders say they are owed $8.5 billion and the timeframe of being able to collect on their claim should continue in perpetuity. That was a central point of contention during Tuesday’s PREPA bond claim estimation hearing during which lawyers for the bondholders and the Oversight Board argued about what the

Municipals were little changed to weaker in spots Wednesday, while U.S. Treasuries sold off after the Bank of Canada raised interest rates and equities ended mixed. Triple-A benchmarks were cut up to three basis points, depending on the scale, while UST yields rose four to 10 basis points. The two-year muni-Treasury ratio Wednesday was at

In meeting renewable energy goals, Virginia has found a new purpose for its old mine lands. State officials believe they can turn an epidemic of mine closures to their advantage by developing a growing number of abandoned properties into renewable energy hubs, leveraging millions of new funds to bring private developers to the table on

Indianapolis will sell up to $625 million of revenue bonds this fall to finance construction of a hotel to serve its expanding downtown convention center, a move that rescues the project after a private developer stumbled on the financing end.   “The $510 million project fund to construct the hotel will be financed by the

Fitch Ratings upgraded Jacksonville, Florida, utility JEA’s more than $1.2 billion of water and sewer system debt to AA-plus from AA. The elevated rating applies to $1 billion of water and sewer system senior revenue bonds; $185 million of subordinated revenue bonds; and $28 million of district energy bonds. The outlook is stable. The upgrades

Ken Gambone, a 30-year muni market veteran, has been promoted to the head of public finance at TD Securities after serving as the company’s head of the western region for seven years.  Gambone replaced Eileen Solla-Diaz, TD Securities’ previous head of public finance, who retired. “It was very easy to elevate Ken,” said Rick Fogliano,

The White House Tuesday launched a website that maps and tracks infrastructure projects and private investment to highlight the impact of laws enacted by the administration over the last three years. The website, Invest.gov, maps thousands of public infrastructure projects and private manufacturing investments spurred by the American Rescue Plan Act, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law,

Connecticut lawmakers approved a $51.1 billion budget that cuts personal income-tax rates for the first time in almost 30 years, while increasing spending on education and housing. “We are delivering the largest cut to Connecticut’s income tax rates in state history,” Gov. Ned Lamont said in a press release Tuesday. The tax cut will benefit

House Republicans on Tuesday sharply criticized responses from the Federal Reserve and the Department of Treasury, taking the agencies to task for rate hikes that they said damaged the municipal and other markets, thwarted transparency, and cracked the banking system.     The comments came during a House Financial Services Committee hearing on Tuesday. The discussions included