Bonds

Southeast municipal bond issuance bounced back in the first half of 2024, with dollar volume rising 42.4% from the first half of 2023. This followed a 29.9% decline in the first half of 2023 compared to the first half of 2022. The Southeast bond volume increase in first half of 2024 from the first half

Municipals were mixed in secondary trading, as $1.8 billion of GOs from New York City came to market in two series, as U.S. Treasury yields fell and equities ended up. Several Federal Open Market Committee members saw a case to cut interest rates by 25 basis points in July, according to minutes of the July

Although charter school bonds seem to naturally lend themselves to a social label, there are inherent risks to taking that step. “One of the biggest questions that often come up is, what are the qualification requirements of being a social bond?” said Ryan Callender, partner, Squire Patton Boggs. “Unfortunately, there’s really no one answer to

Colleges and universities face an estimated $750 billion to $950 billion in spending over the next decade for deferred maintenance, facility upgrades, and construction projects, with the growing backlog of capital needs posing “a significant credit risk” for the higher education sector, according to Moody’s Ratings.  The rating agency said underinvestment in capital assets has

Federal Reserve Board Chair Jerome Powell’s much-anticipated speech at the Jackson Hole symposium should offer clues about the Fed’s thinking ahead of its September meeting, but with limits. “Fed watchers will be parsing Powell’s comments for signs that a 50bp rate cut is on the table for September,” noted Lauren Saidel-Baker, an economist with ITR

The National Association of Bond Lawyers will award Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger, D-Md., the Bernard P. Friel Medal and David Cholst the Federick O. Kiel Distinguished Service Award for their individual contributions to NABL and to the industry over the last four decades. Those will be given out during NABL’s The Workshop 2024, held in Chicago

Municipal bond issuers in the Midwest sold a bit more debt in the first half of 2024 than they did a year earlier, but the region largely missed out on big gains in bond volume nationwide. Midwest bond sale volume rose to $34.377 billion from $33.78 billion, according to data from LSEG, a 1.8% increase.

Municipals were firmer Tuesday as several of the week’s $12 billion calendar began pricing, led by New York City’s $1.5 billion being offered to retail investors, as U.S. Treasury yields fell and equities saw losses on the day. Triple-A yields fell by two to eight basis points depending on the curve, with the best performance

Federal Reserve Gov. Michelle Bowman.Julia Nikhinson/Bloomberg Federal Reserve Board Gov. Michelle Bowman said Tuesday she is not quite ready to sign off on an interest rate cut at next month’s Federal Open Market Committee meeting. In a speech delivered to the Alaska Bankers Association, Bowman said price growth continues to be “uncomfortably” high, adding that

A default on debt issued by a Texas town struggling with water scarcity led to multi-notch downgrades into junk by S&P Global Ratings and heightened concern about the impact of climate change on public finance.  Clyde, a city of less than 4,000 in central Texas, failed to make debt service payments due Aug. 1 on

Denver voters will consider a sales tax hike on the Nov. 5 ballot to raise about $100 million annually that could be tapped to back bonds for affordable housing. The city council voted 9-4 Monday for the 0.5% tax hike measure proposed by Mayor Mike Johnston in July to address Denver’s affordable homes shortage.  

Legislation pending in Congress that would limit the issuance of tax-exempt municipal bonds from states without so-called school choice laws illustrates the risk facing the municipal market’s prized exemption from agendas that are unrelated to state and local financing. With Congress set to take up major tax reform next year, many market participants fear that

As the fall conference circuit quickly approaches, Women in Public Finance (WPF) is taking a bold step forward. With the launch of our Women’s Speaker Bureau, WPF aims to amplify the voices of women professionals, foster visibility, and create a powerful resource for industry events.  We know that visibility is more than just being seen

Transcription: Transcripts are generated using a combination of speech recognition software and human transcribers, and may contain errors. Please check the corresponding audio for the authoritative record. Mike Scarchilli (00:04):Hi everyone, and welcome to The Bond Buyer Podcast, your essential resource for insights into everything municipal finance. I’m Mike Scarchilli, Editor-in-Chief for The Bond Buyer,

Municipal bond issuance in the Southwest jumped 29.8% to $50.6 billion in 2024’s first half with Texas accounting for 65% of the volume amid a deluge of debt from the education sector.  After a first quarter slump, issuance in the region zoomed 60.3% higher in the second quarter compared to the same period in 2023,

As investors consider this week’s $12 billion new– issue calendar, nearly $2 billion of the debt available will come from New York City.  At $1.8 billion, the deal is the largest on the calendar this week and it’s the latest offering from the city since its $1.2 billion refunding issuance in July.  The first series,

Constructive secondary trading and a firmer tone were evident Monday as munis took cues from calmer markets overall. Triple-A yield curves saw small improvement, particularly on the short end, with bumps of one to two basis points, while Treasuries were better out longer. With two weeks of market swings in the rearview, and some further

Vice President Kamala Harris is pushing housing policy beyond Low Income Housing Credit reform in her bid for the White House.  “My administration will provide first time home buyers with $25,000 to help with the down payment on a new home,” she said during a stump speech in Raleigh, N.C., last week.   “We will take

Nine public and private Chicago-area firms Friday joined the Equity in Infrastructure Project to hire more historically underserved firms for capital projects. The firms include the Illinois Tollway, Regional Transportation Authority and Metra, whose infrastructure programs together total tens of billions. They joined leaders of private firms like Loop Capital Chairman and CEO Jim Reynolds;

California is planning to sell $2.5 billion of tax-exempt general obligation bonds later this month, the state’s second largest offering this year.  Proceeds from the sale will be used to finance voter-approved projects, pay down outstanding commercial paper and refund outstanding general obligation bonds, according to ratings documents provided by Fitch Ratings, which rates the

The sponsors of a $20 billion bond measure to fund affordable housing in the San Francisco Bay Area have removed it from the November ballot. A statement announcing the Bay Area Housing Finance Agency’s decision to withdraw the measure indicated doubt about its ability to garner the necessary two-thirds supermajority from voters in the nine-county