Bonds

When buses ferrying migrants north from Texas began arriving in Naperville, Illinois, which is roughly 30 miles from Chicago, local officials were caught off guard. “We had a total of six buses in December and they went directly to the Metra train station with occupants boarding trains to Chicago,” Naperville Director of Communications Linda LaClouche

Market volatility, an inverted yield curve, higher yields and huge swings in the SIFMA swap index are giving issuers pause when considering floating-rate debt products. Issuance of variable rate demand obligations and other floating-rate debt saw a small increase in 2023 year-over-year, but it’s unclear if that trend will continue into 2024 due to the

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro wants to tap the commonwealth’s surplus revenues for his wide-ranging budget agenda. The Democrat proposed sweeping changes to Pennsylvania’s K-12 and higher education systems and $500 million of borrowing to fund his new economic development plan in his budget address on Tuesday.  The budget proposal was $48.34 billion, an increase of

Municipals ended the week quieter than they began it with a mostly steady to firmer tone in spots Friday, outperforming U.S. Treasuries, which saw small losses. Equities were mixed at the close. Tax-exempt yields have moved higher with Treasuries, but outperformed on the whole, while municipal to UST ratios have been “largely moving sideways” in

Employee-owned international broker-dealer Baird has launched a California Public Finance group and hired veteran banker John Baracy as a managing director to run it and be the California K-12 market lead. “It’s been a market we wanted to expand in just given the size of the California economy,” said Brian Brewer, Baird’s director of public

The honeymoon phase for environmental, social and governance considerations in the municipal market is beginning to wane, giving way to a more thorough and dynamic vision for how issuers and market participants can deal with the hotly-politicized concpept. ESG was building steam before the pandemic, but has now become so overly-politicized that banks, underwriters and

The direction of interest rates will have the greatest impact on the municipal bond market this year, according to a vote taken at The Bond Buyer’s 2024 National Outlook Conference in Manhattan on Thursday. Almost three quarters of respondents, 72%, said interest rates would have the most significant effect on the public finance industry in

The Internal Revenue Service has informed the Port of Port Arthur Navigation District of Jefferson County, Texas that the tax-exempt status of a 2017 $55 million bond issuance remains unresolved, months after the district initially disclosed that the IRS was casting doubt on the tax-exempt status of the bonds. The notice came via a notice on

Debt-shy Tennessee is eying private activity bonds under its newly authorized public private partnership program. Gov. Bill Lee signed the Transportation Modernization Act into law last April, supported by a $3 billion general fund infusion, making Tennessee the latest state to authorize P3s. The alternative delivery method will be used to build four toll lanes

A four-day atmospheric river-fueled storm that walloped California caused estimated damages of up to $11 billion and put the state’s aging infrastructure to the test. The preliminary damage estimate of up to $11 billion by AccuWeather accounts for damage to homes, businesses, infrastructure, facilities, roadways and vehicles, as well as over 900,000 reported power outages

Ex-IFS Securities trader Keith Wakefield committed securities and wire fraud when, as the broker-dealer’s head of fixed income, the Chicago resident made forbidden speculative trades and embezzled hundreds of thousands of dollars over a two-year period, an Illinois federal court jury found this week. According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of

Municipals were steady to a touch firmer in spots Thursday, more new-issues saw strong demand while small outflows returned to muni mutual funds. U.S. Treasuries were weaker, and equities ended up. After four weeks of inflows into muni mutual funds, outflows returned, with LSEG Lipper reporting $121.1 million of outflows for the week ending Wednesday

The slow rolling demise of the Highway Trust Fund combined with uncertainty about an eventual Bipartisan Infrastructure Law reauthorization has states and industry leaders exploring new funding and financing options. Sales tax charged on gasoline and diesel fuel remain the main engine powering the funding stream that states use to maintain roads, bridges, and public

Jason Lisec was named head of HilltopSecurities’ fixed income capital markets. He had been co-head of the department since 2020. “Jason has a proven record as an outstanding leader who brings clarity, decisiveness and expertise to his role with our fixed income capital markets division,” said HilltopSecurities CEO Brad Winges. “He has established great partnerships

The Securities and Exchange Commission’s recent suspension of the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board’s rate card model is causing some confusion in the market, as the fees set for 2023 are now in effect for this year. That’s according to Mark Kim, chief executive officer at the MSRB, speaking during the Bond Buyer’s 2024 National Outlook

Children’s Health and UT Southwestern Medical Center unveiled plans Wednesday for a $5 billion pediatric health campus in Dallas that will be financed in part with bonds. The project, which is expected to be completed in six to seven years, includes an approximately 2 million-square-foot hospital with three towers that will replace the existing Children’s

Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. has brought on a pair of former UBS bankers to its public finance team under new public finance chief Elizabeth Coolidge. New York-based Kristin Stephens will head the firm’s Northeast region and Atlanta-based David Moffett will head the Southeast, the firm announced Thursday. “Kristin’s past work with issuers in developing innovative

Florida-based plastics recycler PureCycle Technologies announced this week that its subsidiary, PureCycle: Ohio LLC, has agreed to buy out the majority holders of $219.55 million of outstanding private activity bonds tied to its Ironton, Ohio facility, the company’s first polypropylene purification plant.  The tax-exempt bonds had $219.55 million in principal outstanding at the time they

The Securities and Exchange Commission has approved amendments to Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board Rule G-12 on uniform practices, adding a section to the rule that makes dealers involved in municipal securities transactions subject to the T+1 settlement cycle, another step towards the larger industry move shortening the settlement cycle. The proposal aligns MSRB Rule G-12

The North Carolina Local Government Commission on Tuesday approved the Mecklenburg County and Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools request for a $2.5 billion bond package. It was the largest amount of tax-exempt financing ever OK’d by the commission. Separately, State Treasurer Dale Folwell noted that the state is on the way to reaching its goal of paying down

In 2023 several municipal issuers made tender offers for their not-yet-callable high coupon tax-exempt bonds. In most cases, the intended goal was to refund and save interest. These tenders turned out to be remarkably unsuccessful — the average acceptance ratio was only around 30%. There was a dearth of the usual press releases reveling about