Bonds

Municipals were slightly weaker as the focus turned to a large new-issue day with deals upsized and accelerated. The asset class followed U.S. Treasuries to higher yields while equities closed the session up. Triple-A yields rose one to five basis points, depending on the curve, while UST yields rose up to four basis points. The

The size of the Internal Revenue Service budget and whether it should see an increase was part of the focus of a Tuesday Senate Finance Committee hearing during which IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel played defense against what some members of Congress have called over aggressive audits.   Werfel’s written testimony included a request that IRA funding

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass broadened her priorities from tackling homelessness and police officer retention, presenting a plan in her State of the City speech to comprehensively evaluate city departments to make them more effective as she wrestles with a $467 million deficit. The mayor will present her budget later this week. The city has

President Joe Biden signaled tentative federal support for a long-struggling high-speed train between Dallas and Houston using Japanese technology during a meeting last week with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. Opponents of the controversial proposal, meanwhile, have urged the Department of Justice to investigate the project’s owner, Texas Central Partners LLC, for violations of the

Mikhail Foux, Managing Director and Head Municipal Research & Strategy at Barclays, discusses the increasing retail concentration of muni ownership as fewer institutional investors are engaging in the asset class due to various regulatory and tax-policy related issues and what it means for munis during times of volatility. Bond Buyer Executive Editor Lynne Funk hosts.

Enjoy complimentary access to top ideas and insights — selected by our editors. The Bond Buyer is proud to announce the return of nominations for the Hall of Fame of municipal finance for a third class of inductees, alongside the ninth annual class of Rising Stars, a program which showcases the brightest young minds in

Lauren Saporito, who spent nearly two decades at Citi, has been hired as a senior salesperson at Wells Fargo, as part of the firm’s multi-year plan to invest in the municipal space. At Wells, Saporito will strengthen the company’s links with major institutional investors and advance its expansion into credit-centric areas like project finance and affordable housing,

A small Kansas city took the initial step last week that could lead to the issuance of sales tax and revenue (STAR) bonds for a development featuring a Mattel toy-themed amusement park. The proposal came before the Bonner Springs City Council in the wake of the first-ever default on STAR bonds in the state and

Brodie Killian has moved to PFM Financial Advisors from Stifel Nicolas & Co., joining its Ann Arbor office as a director. The move represents the capstone achievement of Killian’s broad career in the municipal bond market, he told The Bond Buyer.  “My past experience gives me a unique perspective as a municipal advisor who has

Municipals were slightly weaker Monday, but outperformed U.S. Treasuries which saw larger losses across the curve. Equities sold off. Triple-A yields rose one to four basis points while U.S. Treasury yields rose up to 11 with the largest losses out long. The two-year muni-to-Treasury ratio Monday was at 63%, the three-year at 61%, the five-year

San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria’s $5.65 billion proposed budget taps borrowing and other short-term fixes to close a structural deficit. One-time maneuvers include eliminating $30 million in scheduled reserve contributions and borrowing $25 million, rather than using cash, to fund infrastructure projects. Gloria’s budget would increase spending on homeless prevention programs, street paving and flood

The private sector has until the end of April to submit unsolicited proposals for transportation projects to the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation. PennDOT’s Office of Public-Private Partnerships, one of the country’s most active P3 state DOT agencies, accepts unsolicited P3 bids twice a year, in April and October. Interested companies can submit proposals “offering innovative

The Department of the Treasury is expected to follow up its March-issued updated FAQs on the American Rescue Plan’s State and Local Fiscal Recovery Program with further guidance on how counties and local governments will be expected to handle reporting and compliance requirements. The 107-page guidance in March provided further detail on some of the

Florida is coming to market early this week with a $1.5 billion taxable bond sale to bulk up the state’s Hurricane Catastrophe Fund. The State Board of Administration Finance Corp. is planning to issue $1.5 billion of taxable revenue bonds in two maturities. “We convened with the underwriting group today and signed off on what

Duluth, Minnesota-based St. Luke’s Hospital’s new affiliation with Wisconsin-based Aspirus has lifted the prospects for its speculative-grade bonds. S&P Global Ratings placed the hospital’s BB-plus rated bonds on CreditWatch with positive implications April 5, citing the March transaction which made Aspirus responsible for all of St. Luke’s debt. A CreditWatch positive typically means that S&P

The New York City Municipal Water Finance Authority is returning to the municipal bond market for its second issuance this year.  The authority is scheduled to price $450 million of fixed-rate second resolution bonds, with a retail order period Monday followed by institutional pricing Tuesday, according to an online investor presentation. $400 million will fund

Geopolitical turmoil roiled markets Friday, sending investors on a flight-to-safety trade into U.S. Treasuries while equities sold off after news reports that Israel was bracing for an attack by Iran on government targets and that China was providing Russia with drone and missile components.  Municipal bonds followed USTs as yields fell in both asset classes

The City of Richmond, Virginia is changing course on a nearly $280 million bond issuance that will build a new minor league baseball stadium anchoring a $2.4 billion mixed-use project on 67-acres just northwest of downtown Richmond.  Last week the Diamond District project, which includes retail, housing, and office space took a public financing turn when the

Bond insurance continued its upward trajectory in the first quarter of 2024, leading the two top municipal bond insurers to expand. Municipal bond insurance grew 24.4% in the first quarter of the 2024 year-over-year. The top two municipal bond insurers wrapped $7.132 billion in the first quarter of 2024, up from the $5.735 billion of

Spreads on Build America Bonds have widened “significantly” in the last few months amid a wave of refinancings despite a debate over the legal ability of issuers to call the debt, according to municipal bond strategists. So far this year, the BABs index option-adjust spread has cheapened 10bps compared to the ICE Broad Taxable Municipal

The late March collapse of Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge raises questions about the age and resiliency of U.S. infrastructure that engineers and the finance industry will need to address together. That’s the view of Maria Lehman, immediate past president of the American Society of Civil Engineers, GHD’s infrastructure market leader for the United States