Bonds

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board has approved amendments to Rule G-27 on dealer supervision that are designed to help dealers better adapt to changes brought on by remote work. That was approved during the MSRB’s quarterly board meeting, where the board welcomed Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Gensler in attendance for his yearly visit,

Market participants are upbeat with predictions about an economy showing few signs of recession, a record-breaking stock market and a Federal Reserve that is expected to start ratcheting down interest rates.  Fresh economic data showing gross domestic product growing by an annual rate of 3.3% has bond issuers and ratings agency forecasters feeling bullish about

Accounting errors are a key factor driving Alaska’s Juneau School District into a shortfall amounting to more than 10% of its operating budget. But other underlying causes of the deficit are ones faced by other school districts in the state. Flat state funding and the end of pandemic-era federal relief funds combined with an aging

Municipals saw a more constructive secondary trading session Thursday and mutual funds reported the third consecutive week of inflows while U.S. Treasuries improved. Stocks continued to break records after another report of hotter economic data, which is leading more participants to pare back rate cut timing expectations. LSEG Lipper reported Thursday that investors added $210.6

Guam’s issuer rating was raised to investment grade by Moody’s Investors Service, which cited significant military construction and other federal government support. Moody’s upgraded Guam’s issuer rating, general obligation bonds, hotel occupancy tax bonds, and business privilege tax bonds to Baa3 from Ba1 and raised the COPs to Ba1 from Ba2. The outlook is stable.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has settled charges against Chicago-based investment advisor Aon Investments and in a separate action, the firm’s former partner Claire Shaughnessy for misleading the Pennsylvania Public Employees’ Retirement System (PSERS) on a certain discrepancy when calculating investment returns. Without admitting or denying the findings, both Aon and Shaughnessy consented to the

The Oklahoma Senate will not take up an income tax cut during a special legislative session next week as it waits for more information about the state’s financial position. The Republican-controlled chamber will commence and immediately adjourn the session that starts Monday just like it did for an October special session on tax cuts Gov.

President Joe Biden will visit Wisconsin Thursday to announce nearly $5 billion in grants to kickstart transportation projects across the country. The largest grant, of $1 billion, will go to replace the aging Blatnik bridge between Wisconsin and Minnesota, where Biden will make the announcement. President Joe Biden is set to visit Wisconsin Thursday to

Miami-Dade County, Florida Mayor Daniella Levine Cava proposed a $2.5 billion bond referendum to fund infrastructure projects, which voters will decide in November. Proceeds from the “305 Future Ready” bonds would fund housing, septic to sewer conversions, flood prevention and resilient parks, Levine Cava said during her State of the County address Wednesday night at

Mass transit investors are looking past the well-publicized “fiscal cliff” facing public agencies and taking comfort in the more stable revenue streams like sales taxes that back their bonds. “They’re all facing lower ridership and diminishing federal pandemic relief,” said Sheila May, director of municipal bond research at Boston-based GW&K Investment Management. “That narrative is

Dealer groups representing firms of all sizes are urging the Securities and Exchange Commission to adopt the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board’s 2024 rate card for fear that reverting back to 2023 levels would cause significant disruption. That’s according to a joint letter signed by the Bond Dealers of America and the Securities Industry and Financial

The public power sector’s outlook was revised to negative from stable by S&P Global Ratings due to factors including inflation and government mandate pressures. Inflation diminished customers’ ability to afford electricity rates, said David Bodek, S&P sector leader. Retail electricity prices in recent years have outpaced inflation as utilities also face increased cost, Bodek said

West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice proposed a $5.3 billion fiscal 2025 budget that contains tax cuts for senior citizens and families with children. Justice, who unveiled the budget proposal during his State of the State address to the Legislature on Jan. 10, said the plan includes significant reforms to the state’s Social Security income tax,

Municipals were little changed Wednesday amid another busy primary session as U.S. Treasury yields rose throughout most of the curve and equities ended up. Despite municipal performance being in the red to start to 2023, municipal mutual funds continue to see inflows. The Investment Company Institute Wednesday reported more inflows into municipal bond mutual funds

Hawaii Gov. Josh Green highlighted $373 million of infrastructure and housing spending in his supplemental fiscal 2025 budget, calling it his administration’s top statewide priority during his State of the State speech. He also renewed a call for a climate change impact fee expected to collect $50 million that he said would have helped cover

A nearly 10-year veteran of Houston government will head the city’s finance department following Wednesday’s city council approval of Melissa Dubowski’s appointment. Mayor John Whitmire, who took office this month after winning a Dec. 9 runoff election, said the appointment of a finance director was probably the most significant one he will make.   “We’ve got

The state of Maryland, already reeling from a transportation budget cut is absorbing another hit as Fitch Ratings changed the outlook on $100 million of private activity revenue bonds series 2022A and $543.5 million of series 2022B PABs from stable to negative.  Both series are designated as green bonds and retain their BBB rating. They were

Plans to replace a decaying bridge between Wisconsin and Minnesota have advanced with the announcement of $1.05 billion in federal funding. The grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Nationally Significant Multimodal Freight and Highway Projects program, also known as INFRA, will help finance a replacement for the John A. Blatnik Bridge.  A nearly 63-year-old

New Jersey has retired almost $500 million of outstanding debt for about $160 million in savings, joining other issuers in using defeasance as a cost-saving tool and to improve their credit. Gov. Phil Murphy touted the state’s debt defeasement during an address last week at a meeting of the Municipal Analysts Group of New York.

The Illinois Supreme Court on Friday ended a three-year legal battle over the constitutionality of the pension consolidation passed by the General Assembly and signed into law by Gov. JB Pritzker in 2019. The law, Public Act 101-0610, which took effect Jan. 1, 2020, pooled most of Illinois’ local police and firefighter pension fund assets

Municipals were weaker in spots amid an active primary market that saw a billion-dollar-plus retail order from the Regents of the University of California price and Washington sell just shy of $1 billion general obligation bonds in the competitive market. U.S. Treasury yields rose and equities were mixed near the close. The two-year muni-to-Treasury ratio