Bonds

The not-for-profit healthcare sector continues to face challenges, including a high number of bond covenant violations, which can provide an early warning of payment defaults, said Lisa Washburn, chief credit officer and managing director for Municipal Market Analytics.   “The hospital sector has definitely seen improvement since the worst of 2022, but I would still

Municipals were mixed Thursday in secondary trading as focus shifted to California’s nearly $1.5 billion of tax-exempt and taxable general obligation bond deals in the competitive market while U.S. Treasuries were weaker out long after Wednesday’s short-end selloff and equities were in the black at the close. Triple-A yield curves saw a mix of bumps

S&P Global Ratings lowered Dunkirk, New York’s general obligation bonds by three notches to BBB-minus from A-minus and withdrew the rating. S&P removed the rating from negative CreditWatch where it had been placed on March 4. The outlook on the credit is negative. The GOs had been secured by the city’s faith-and-credit pledge. “We lowered

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board’s upcoming meeting of its board of directors April 17-18 will focus discussion on its many rule proposals underway. The board will review the public comments they received as part of the request for information on small firms, which saw 22 different firms and groups submit responses. They will also discuss

An increase in trading activity and the number of pre-trade pricing quotes in the municipal securities market is leading to improved pricing, a research report from the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board detailed. The report, released Thursday, looked at the number of live quotes and trades on two ATS platforms from three month periods in 2021

Celebrating Ohio’s “highest possible credit rating,” Gov. Mike DeWine on Wednesday delivered his State of the State address to the General Assembly at the statehouse in Columbus. DeWine centered his speech around the children of the state, on whom he said the future depends. He gestured to his new great-granddaughter, Betty Jane, up in the

John Miller, a veteran municipal bond investment banker and financial advisor, has been hired by Build America Mutual as a senior advisor. In his role, he will focus on boosting the primary market’s use of bond insurance for sizable infrastructure and public power projects. Miller was most recently a director at American Public Infrastructure, a

Easterly Asset Management acquired two municipal investment mutual funds and hired two managers, including the former co-head of municipals at OppenheimerFunds Rochester, to run them. Easterly, a Massachusetts-based asset manager with $3 billion under management, added PSP High Income Municipal Bond Mutual Fund and the PSP Short-Term Municipal Fund, which have a combined $600 million

A new first-of-its-kind environmental rule that lays out a path to reducing so-called “forever chemicals” in U.S. drinking water would cost municipal water systems up to $40 billion in capital costs and billions more in annual compliance costs. That’s the potential price tag floated by industry groups representing publicly-owned water systems after the Environmental Protection

A slew of mega deals helped push issuance in the first quarter of 2024 to over $100 billion, buoyed by favorable market conditions and a resurgence in refunding outstanding Build America Bonds, leading some firms to reconsider total issuance expectations for the year. Sixteen deals topped $1 billion in the first quarter of 2024, double

Despite a rating upgrade ahead of the deal, Louisiana paid a wider spread to a 10-year benchmark when it sold general obligation bonds Tuesday than it did a year ago. In Tuesday’s pricing, the state paid a 15 basis point spread to the Triple-A benchmark evaluated by BVAL for the 2034 maturity, with 5% coupons.

Riley Moore, right, West Virginia’s treasurer, is running for a U.S. House seat. Moore has helped create a blacklist in his home state for banks that refuse to work with businesses in certain industries. INWOOD, W.Va. — It’s important, Riley Moore says, for people to know that his father was a banker.  Tall, sharp-eyed and

S&P Global Ratings on Wednesday upgraded its long-term rating on Detroit’s unlimited-tax general obligation debt to investment grade, raising it to BBB from BB-plus. The outlook is stable. The rating agency said the change reflected a stronger financial position and its “increased confidence in the city’s ability to sustain balance within the construct of its

Municipals were weaker, but outperformed a large U.S. Treasury selloff that hit the short end the hardest and pushed the 10-year well over 4.5% after a hot inflation report showed Fed rate cuts would be pushed further out. Equities sold off as well. “The news is sparking an equity market selloff while sending bond yields

Norfolk, Virginia, has canceled its plans to call some of its outstanding Build America Bonds, according to a financial filing issued Monday. In March, the city said in a conditional notice that it was considering a redemption of $56 million of its direct-pay taxable 2010B capital improvement BABs under an extraordinary optional redemption before the

Federal Reserve policymakers “generally favored” slowing the pace at which they’re shrinking the central bank’s asset portfolio by roughly half, minutes from their latest gathering showed. The record of the March 19-20 Federal Open Market Committee meeting also showed “almost all” officials judged it would be appropriate to begin lowering borrowing costs “at some point”

Two San Francisco public finance attorneys, who worked on one of healthcare’s largest public finance deals at their previous firm, have been hired by Chapman and Cutler LLP. Mary Kimura joined the law firm on March 28 as a partner, while Michele Dulik, started Monday as senior counsel. Both will work in the firm’s San

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin on Monday presented more than 240 amendments to Virginia’s biennium budget, proposing what he called a common ground budget plan. “Today, I am proud to release my amendments for a common ground budget,” he said. “It demonstrates our commitment not as Republicans or Democrats, not as senators, delegates or a governor

The Dormitory Authority of the State of New York Board of Directors on Wednesday named Robert J. Rodriguez its acting president and chief executive officer. Rodriguez is currently New York’s Secretary of State and will start his new role on May 8. He will be acting president and CEO until confirmed by the state Senate.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board has filed amendments to its Rule G-47 on time of trade disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which would add three new disclosure scenarios, update its definition of materiality in relation to the rule, and provide a few clarifying details as supplementary material. The MSRB approved the amendments during

The state of Utah has joined a Native American tribe and labor and energy groups in an effort in the U.S. Supreme Court to keep a proposed bond-financed crude oil-transporting railway project from being derailed. In so-called friend of the court brief last week, the parties backed Seven County Infrastructure Coalition’s March petition asking the