Today In The Markets

Municipals were firmer Thursday, underperforming a U.S. Treasury rally after inflation data showed Federal Reserve rate cuts are on track for later this year, with the September Federal Open Market Committee meeting the likely start to an easing cycle. Equities ended mixed. Muni yields fell two to eight basis points, depending on the curve, while

Officials in East St. Louis, Illinois, have sued the local police and firefighter pension boards and the state comptroller to block the use of a law allowing the comptroller to intercept state funds going to the city and redirect them to pension payments. According to the Belleville News-Democrat, the city is challenging the law’s legitimacy

Public infrastructure built with federal emergency funds must conform to stricter flood-risk standards to better protect against rising climate risk, the Biden administration said Wednesday. The standard, which was years in the making, requires buildings and other infrastructure built with Federal Emergency Management Agency funds to be elevated higher above local flood levels, or relocated

Miller Canfield has hired five public finance attorneys from Ice Miller, and they will work out of the Chicago office. The hiring of James Snyder, Austin Root, Mark Huddle, Shelly Scinto and Kathleen Thomas aligns with the Detroit-based international law firm’s growth strategy: in specific practice areas, such as school districts, and a geographic expansion,

Phoenix-based Grand Canyon University, which is wrestling with legal and regulatory matters, is refinancing up to $520 million of taxable bonds rated a notch above junk by Fitch Ratings. The refunding involves debt maturing in October from a $1.2 billion taxable revenue bond issue the private Christian university sold in 2021 to refinance the remaining

It is “critical” that the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority and its creditors work toward a negotiated deal to resolve the bankruptcy, U.S. District Judge Laura Taylor Swain said in ordering the parties to continue negotiating for 60 days, at which point restarting the bankruptcy’s litigation on various legal and possibly evidentiary issues or dismissal

Ila Afsharipour joined Wells Fargo this week as managing director. He will head the firm’s real estate, securitization, and affordable housing team, as well as work with Nick Fluehr in co-heading the firm’s broader housing public finance team. Afsharipour, who has more than a decade of experience in the public finance sector, will be responsible