Bonds

Puerto Rico Secretary of the Treasury and Chief Financial Officer Francisco Parés Alicea will resign effective Jan. 31. Gov. Pedro Pierluisi announced the resignation and said Nelson Pérez Méndez will serve as the interim Secretary of the Treasury. Pérez Méndez was deputy director of the Fiscal Agency and Financial Advisory Authority, focusing on the central

Washington state’s rating outlook was revised to positive from stable Thursday by S&P Global Ratings, citing the state’s growing economy and strong reserves. The outlook revision means there is a one-in-three chance the state could have its AA-plus rating upgraded to AAA by S&P over the two-year outlook period, said Oscar Padilla, an S&P director.

Municipals were little changed ahead of a holiday-shortened week, while U.S. Treasuries were firmer 10 years and in and equities were mixed near the close. The muni market, as expected, has “remained in a sideways mode” so far in this year with muni-UST ratios grinding lower, said BofA Securities strategists in a weekly report. While

UBS has settled charges with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, agreeing to a censure and a $100,000 fine for failing to include the Non-Transaction Based Compensation indicator when reporting 91,059 municipal securities transactions to the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board. For this, UBS violated MSRB Rule G-14 on customer transaction reporting, which requires firms to report

First Eagle Investments has hired John Suh and Andrew Belsky as credit analysts as the firm continues to build out its high-yield team under Chief Investment Officer and high-yield manager John Miller. Suh, based in New York, previously was a trader/analyst on the high yield desk in JPMorgan’s public finance division. He was at JPMorgan

In September 2015, then Bank of England Governor Mark Carney gave a speech in which he famously referred to the “Tragedy of the Horizon.” He was referring to the fact that financial markets tend to mis-price climate risk because the perceived timing for such risk lies far into the future, beyond the normal investment horizon

The Chicago Board of Education on Wednesday saw its issuer rating and debt ratings from Moody’s Investors Service upgraded a notch, to Ba1 from Ba2 — still speculative grade, but one level below investment-grade status. The rating outlook remains positive after the upgrade. Moody’s cited improvements in Chicago Public Schools’ operating fund net cash balance,

Municipal bond insurance grew 10.4% year-over-year in 2023 leading to the highest market penetration rate since 2008, despite a drop in overall bond volume. While municipal issuance ended 2023 slightly down, demand for bond insurance continued to grow as market participants turned to it for investor confidence, increased market liquidity and enhanced credit ratings. The

California’s budget shortfall is $30 billion less than the $68 billion deficit forecast by the legislative analyst’s office in November, Gov. Gavin Newsom said Wednesday as he unveiled his proposed $291.5 billion budget for fiscal year 2024-25. Even his estimated $37.9 billion deficit will still require some tough choices as Newsom and lawmakers work on

When anyone in the municipal bond industry thinks of housing, Marian Zucker is often the first person who comes to mind. She is known as a consummate municipal finance professional when it comes to homes and affordable housing and is one of the top experts in the field. But it didn’t start out that way.

Marina Wiant has been appointed by State Treasurer Fiona Ma to replace Nancee Robles as executive director of the California Debt Limit Allocation Committee and the California Tax Credit Allocation Committee. Wiant, who started in those posts Wednesday, fills the positions that had been vacant since Robles announced in July that she would be retiring

The U.S. Virgin Islands government is short on cash for its operations and its governor is asking the legislature to borrow $55 million to cover them. Gov. Albert Bryan Jr. will send his financial team to a Virgin Islands Senate hearing next week to argue for a change in usage for a letter of credit

Municipals were little changed Thursday as the primary market activity slowed and inflows to municipal bond mutual funds returned. U.S. Treasuries were firmer after the consumer price index print suggested the Fed may not cut rates in March. Equities were down. The two-year muni-to-Treasury ratio Thursday was at 61%, the three-year at 62%, the five-year

Fitch Ratings warned that a downgrade may be coming for the Washington Metropolitan Area Transportation Authority, which is facing massive service cuts without fresh support from its local and state partners. The agency is “at an inflection point where federal funds have been running dry and collectively the funding partners will need to make a

Movement in both chambers of Congress may turn into meaningful tax legislation that would affect the municipal bond market, raising hope among market advocates. The House Ways and Means Committee and the Senate Finance Committee are reported to be tinkering with a $70 billion combo deal that would sunset the Employee Retention Credit early which

The Biden administration Wednesday announced $623 million for cities and states to help build a national electric vehicle charging station network, a prominent piece of the president’s infrastructure agenda that so far has been off to a slow start. The grants mark the first round of funding from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act’s $2.5

John Williams, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, said in a speech Wednesday that he doesn’t expect the central bank’s quantitative tightening efforts to slow down any time soon, citing ample reserves in the banking system and continued activity in the Fed’s overnight repurchase facility.Bloomberg News NEW YORK — Recent developments on

Cloud-based software platform Adaje has integrated fintech firm ficc.ai’s pricing algorithms into its modeling software to enhance the platform’s tender offer modeling. This integration will improve Adaje’s bond modeling suite by creating a more efficient and exact evaluation of tender offer scenarios, the firm said. Adaje’s platform streamlines bond issuance from concept to post-issuance management

Insurance companies have reduced their collective holdings by almost $42 billion or 9.5%, according to Federal Reserve Data. Together, banks and insurance companies reduced their holdings by 10%, or $102 billion in 2023, the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board’s 2023 Municipal Market Year in Review said. The MSRB provided a few reasons for these trends. John

If North Carolina state lawmakers want to dismantle the state’s defined benefit pension system for teachers and public employees, they should declare their intention and debate such changes in a public process, State Treasurer Dale Folwell said Tuesday. The state legislature passed a provision in the fiscal 2024 budget that let UNC Health Care and

Municipals continued to experience a short-end correction Wednesday amid a busy day in the primary market which saw Jefferson County, Alabama’s, mega sewer refunding deal price along with a billion-plus of Massachusetts GOs offered to retail. U.S. Treasuries were slightly weaker out long and equities were in the black near the close. The municipal AAA