Bonds

Ohio filed a civil federal lawsuit against Norfolk Southern Corp. that seeks to ensure residents and the state receive long-term compensation for lost taxes and economic and environmental damage caused by the February toxic train derailment in East Palestine. Local, state and federal authorities are overseeing water and air quality testing and Norfolk Southern’s disposal

A call to the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority’s senior help line led to dozens of brokers compensating investors who overpaid for defaulted Florida bridge bonds due to a complex and rarely used bond price calculating method. The complaint came in February 2021 from an investor who had bought Santa Rosa Bay Bridge Authority capital appreciation

Florida’s most prominent issuer official is on board with pending legislation to limit the ability of issuers around the state to shape the municipal bonds they sell. House Bill 3, which cleared two committees this week, would prohibit bond issuers from issuing an environmental, social, and corporate governance bond or paying for a third-party verifier

As a result of the continuing crisis in the banking sector, bond yields fell even further early Wednesday with municipals continuing to follow U.S. Treasuries in a flight to quality as market volatility persists. UST yields fell 44 basis points on the two-year, now yielding 3.799%, and 26 basis points at 10 years, yielding 3.409%,

The fall of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank, the second and third largest bank failures in U.S. history, will likely force regulators to take a closer look at depository institutions and their related affiliates and is prompting a Dodd-Frank like scenario where muni leaders may be called to testify in front of Congress to

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board has advanced a number of regulatory initiatives including filing proposed amendments with the Securities and Exchange Commission on MSRB Rule G-12 on uniform practice, Rule G-15 on uniform practices for transactions, as well as moving forward with their draft amendments on MSRB Rule G-32 on primary offering disclosures and extending

Illinois drew a fresh rating upgrade Tuesday for making further progress in tackling its chronic fiscal sore spots. Moody’s Investors Service raised Illinois’ general obligation and sales tax-backed Build Illinois bonds by one notch to A3 from Baa1 and assigned a stable outlook. The upgrade also lifts the Metropolitan Pier & Exposition Authority’s rating one

Municipals were little changed Tuesday in secondary trading as the $1.25 billion deal from the New York City Transitional Finance Authority took focus in the primary. Days after the Silicon Valley Bank collapse, U.S. Treasuries reversed course and sold off on the heels of the most recent inflation report. Equities ended up. Triple-A benchmarks largely

Gov. Phil Murphy was quick to announce $35 million in support for businesses in New Jersey affected by the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank. Two programs managed by the New Jersey Economic Development Authority will provide businesses in the state with critical short-term support and ensure investments “continue to flow” to emerging industries in the wake of

Michigan falls $3.9 billion short annually of what it needs just to maintain the condition of its roadways, according to a report that serves as launching pad for a coalition pressing for a long-term fix that will require new or higher taxes. The projection comes from an analysis of the cost of meeting state road

S&P Global Ratings placed 149 ratings on CreditWatch with negative implications, because they have not received 2021 financial statements from the issuers. The rating agency put issuers — including local governments, utility and public power ratings — across the country on notice that if it doesn’t receive the audited financials within 30 days their ratings

The state of Washington would allow local governments, school districts and the state to enter into long-term public-private partnerships to provide energy services for buildings under legislation passed by the House last week. House Bill 1777 comes as the state gears up for its first-of-its-kind climate legislation that requires all large buildings to reduce their

What a difference a week makes. The Federal Open Market Committee meets next week and after the employment report, the odds of a 50-basis point rate hike soared. With the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank, the market is now expecting a 25 basis point hike, or perhaps a pause. After SVB’s failure,

Rudy Yakym, R-Ind., has been named Republican co-chair of the House Municipal Finance Caucus, a position he takes over from the late Jackie Walorski, who passed away unexpectedly last August. That was confirmed in a release by his Democratic co-chair Dutch Ruppersberger of Maryland, who founded the caucus in 2016. The caucus comprises a bipartisan

The Federal Reserve’s top regulator will lead a probe of its supervision activity that preceded the second-largest bank failure in U.S. history, the central bank announced Monday. Fed Vice Chair for Supervision Michael Barr will conduct a review of the regulation and supervision activity applied to Santa Clara, Calif.-based Silicon Valley Bank, which was shut

Wisconsin heads into the market Tuesday with a new money and refunding transportation issue against a backdrop of debate over how to spend a record $7 billion surplus, with the legislature’s Republican majority in the driver’s seat. The size of the borrowing is in flux and dependent on market technicals Tuesday when the deal is

Municipal bond market participants are casting a wary eye at U.S. regional banks after the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank of Santa Clara, California, but there was no sign of widespread panic. SVB closed its door Friday after investors lost confidence in the bank’s failing financial performance. It was the largest bank failure since the

Amtrak and a regional commission plan to partner on a federal grant application to study the feasibility of extending of one of Amtrak’s long-distance passenger trains through Mississippi, Louisiana, and into Texas, officials announced recently. Initial analysis showed “strong stakeholder support exists” for creating a branch of Amtrak’s existing “Crescent” train, which runs from New

Harriet Richardson, embattled inspector general for the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District, will retire Friday, six months before her term ends. Richardson has been vocal during her tenure about obstacles she felt BART’s leadership had placed in her way as she worked to audit the transit authority that provides rail service from San

Goldman Sachs Asset Management launched the company’s first muni exchange-traded fund last week: the Goldman Sachs Community Municipal Bond ETF. “This is something that we don’t see as a short-term trend, but rather [something] that’s going to continue to grow over time,” Alexa Gordon, municipal bond portfolio manager at Goldman Sachs said of muni ETFs. Goldman

Municipal bond yields continued to fall Monday as traders assessed the effects of Silicon Valley Bank’s failure after federal regulators intervened to protect the banking system from additional failures of weak financial organizations. In addition, analysts said, this could impact the expected Federal Reserve rate hike, although inflation data this week will be the final