Bonds

California headlined the top 10 issuers in 2023. Half of the top 10 issuers were new entrants — the California Community Choice Finance Authority, Main Street Natural Gas, Washington, the Texas Natural Gas Securitization Finance Corp. and Illinois — as Massachusetts, the Regents of the University of California, the Louisiana Local Government Environmental Facilities and

The top municipal underwriters saw big shifts in rankings in 2023. The changes reflect a year of layoffs at several Wall Street firms, including the October decision by UBS to exit the negotiated underwriting business and Citigroup, which also exited the muni underwriting business, in November. The industry has weathered its second year of declining volume that increased competition for

Massachusetts plans to come to market on Thursday with $1.4 billion of general obligation bonds that will kick off the first full trading week of the year. The deal is one of the largest offerings of the week, which will see $9.1 billion of supply flood into the market after the weeks-long holiday drought. Jefferson

A bill that has yet to make it out of the Washington State Senate would establish a public bank with a narrow scope, giving municipalities an alternative option to the bond market for financing a variety of infrastructure projects. jdoms – stock.adobe.com Advocates for public banking in Washington State are building support for a state-owned

Municipals were mixed ahead of a new-issue calendar that rebounds to more than $9 billion. U.S. Treasury yields rose further Friday as the December jobs report cast doubt on whether the Fed would start cutting rates in March. Equities were up near the close. There was already “significant upward pressure” on Treasury yields in recent

The U.S. District Court for Puerto Rico ended a Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority bondholder discrimination adversary proceeding, asking parties to raise the issues they have during the plan of adjustment confirmation hearing planned to in early March. District Court Judge Laura Taylor Swain stayed the proceeding while saying plaintiffs GoldenTree and Syncora Guarantee should

As government funding deadlines loom just weeks away, cities and states face fallout from federal aid cuts, the claw back of pandemic funds and reductions in the always-vulnerable Build America Bond subsidies. The federal government is currently operating under a pair of short-term continuing resolutions that expire within weeks. The departments of Agriculture, Veterans Affairs,

David Elgart, former president and chief compliance officer of the now defunct Roswell, Georgia-based Sequoia Investments has agreed to settle charges with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority for his role in acting as an unregistered dealer between May 2020 and May 2021, accepting a suspended fine. Without admitting or denying the findings, Elgart consented to

From baby bonds to pension funding, 2023 was a year for progress in Connecticut, according to the annual report released Wednesday by State Treasurer Erick Russell. “The work done by our agency often focuses on the long-term — sustained investment success, low-cost infrastructure funding, helping families save for college, and now our landmark ‘CT Baby

Continued financial pressure will impact the nonprofit healthcare system in 2024, Fitch Ratings and S&P Global Ratings analysts said Thursday. “We think we have another tough year ahead of us,” Fitch Senior Director Kevin Holloran said during a webinar. Despite some positives, such as an increase in demand, labor costs remain a major problem for

Moody’s Investors Service revised the New York State Thruway Authority’s outlook to positive from stable on Thursday. Moody’s also affirmed the A1 rating on the authority’s $3.2 billion of outstanding general revenue bonds and the A2 rating on the $2.5 billion of outstanding general revenue junior indebtedness obligations. Travelers see a sign for the Ardsley

Bonds used to buy eight senior living properties in Michigan and Ohio are likely to default within six months, S&P Global Ratings said. On Dec. 21, S&P placed bonds issued for Great Lakes Senior Living Communities LLC — already rated deep in the speculative grades at CCC-minus — on CreditWatch with negative implications. The bonds

Municipals were weaker Thursday while municipal bond mutual funds reported outflows to start the year. U.S. Treasury yields rose and equities ended mixed. Triple-A yield curves were cut up to four basis points, depending on the scale, while UST yields rose seven to nine basis points. The two-year muni-to-Treasury ratio Thursday was at 56%, the

The Office of Management and Budget would be required to disclose any infrastructure projects that are more than $1 billion over budget or more than five years behind schedule under a bill that has passed a Senate committee. A companion bill in the House has been introduced in two committees. The Senate Committee on Homeland

Blaylock Van, a Black-owned banking firm, continues to expand its muni efforts by hiring the tax-exempt muni sales and trading team from Seaport Global, a privately held capital markets firm. The three executives, Kudzai Jones, Jason Carpenter and PJ Richardson, set to start in January, bring Blaylock Van’s muni team up to 20 employees, said

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board’s new rate card model is coming under fire by broker-dealer and municipal advisor groups for what those groups see as a lack of transparency, vague budget commitments and a warped process that sets spending plans before revenue for those targets has been met. The MSRB’s rate card model is new

Alberto G. Musalem will take over as president of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis on April 2, the bank announced Thursday. Musalem, an economist, and former executive vice president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, “served as CEO and co-chief investment officer of Evince Asset Management LP (2018-’22), a quantitative investment

The fiscal struggles of three public school districts in northwest Washington state have landed them under enhanced state oversight. State Superintendent of Public Instruction Chris Reykdal placed three school districts in “binding conditions” as the 2023-2024 school year began: Marysville School District 25, Mount Baker School District and La Connor School District, all in northwest

Just days after taking office, Houston Mayor John Whitmire withdrew the city’s appeal of a recent court ruling involving an impasse over firefighter pay that is being closely watched by at least one bond rating agency. The appeal of a Harris County District Court judge’s December ruling ordering Houston to negotiate back pay and benefits

Municipals were little changed Wednesday, while U.S. Treasury yields fell slightly and equities ended the session down after the Federal Open Market Committee’s December meeting minutes offered little insights into future rate cuts. The two-year muni-to-Treasury ratio Wednesday was at 56%, the three-year at 58%, the five-year at 58%, the 10-year at 58% and the

North Las Vegas, Nevada, this week had its long-term issuer default rating upgraded to A-minus from BBB-plus by Fitch Ratings as the city’s ratings continue an upward climb after falling to junk a decade ago. The city of 280,543 had been on the fiscal comeback trail since it fought off insolvency in 2014, even seeing