Bonds

Chicago will have its eye on which among five bids offers the best odds for fiscal and economic gains as it takes the next step in picking a developer to build and operate a casino and resort complex. The city received five proposals from potential developers and operators by a late October deadline. On Friday,

Municipals were lightly traded and outperformed a large sell-off in U.S. Treasuries while equities were mixed following President Biden’s decision to renominate Jerome Powell as Federal Reserve Chairman. Since Powell is seen “as slightly less dovish than [Lael] Brainard, more rate hikes and more immediacy of those hikes is making its way into the yield

Last week’s intervention by the city of New York to disqualify a law firm from a qui tam case involving alleged price fixing of municipal bonds brings conflicts of interest to the forefront of already prolonged and complex litigation. Managing conflicts of interest is not only important for attorneys but for municipal advisors as well,

Los Angeles City Controller Ron Galperin released an audit Wednesday showing the city has failed to keep its legally binding promise to repair its 9,000 miles of sidewalks. A legal settlement finalized in 2016 requires the city to spend $1.37 billion over 30 years to address broken sidewalks, inaccessible curb ramps and other access barriers

COVID-19 stimulus spending caused 2021 state expenditure estimates to sky-rocket to the highest level in 35 years. That was according to the Fiscal 2019-2021 State Expenditure Report released by the National Association of State Budget Officers Friday. Total state spending reached $2.65 trillion in fiscal year 2021, a jump from the $2.28 trillion observed in

A federal request for a 10- to 15-week pause in the Puerto Rico Plan of Adjustment confirmation process as well as the related constitutional challenge to the underlying bankruptcy law may threaten the Puerto Rico debt deal. Five attorneys with the U.S. Department of Justice, led by Acting Assistant Attorney General Brian Boynton, asked Puerto

The Securities and Exchange Commission Friday censured a McKinsey & Co. affiliate and ordered it to pay $18 million to settle allegations that MIO Partners had access to material nonpublic information about issuers, including Puerto Rico, while it was overseeing investments that included the issuers’ securities. Active partners at McKinsey acting as restructuring consultants for

Municipals were stronger Friday on the back of the U.S. Treasury rally amid concerns of rising COVID-19 outbreaks in Europe. Triple-A benchmarks were bumped by one to three basis points beginning around the five-year mark with the larger moves out longer, but the asset class underperformed the five- to six-basis point moves in UST. Ratios

The House on Friday passed the Build Back Better Act, teeing up a fresh round of work in the Senate that municipal market advocates hope will offer a chance to further amend the bill to include muni priorities. The $1.7 trillion, 2,100-page measure, President Joe Biden’s signature social and climate spending package, passed to cheers

During a contentious meeting of the Louisiana Bond Commission Thursday, J.P. Morgan Chase was disqualified from underwriting a $700 million bond refinancing due to unanswered questions about its gun policies. State Treasurer John Schroder and his staff announced the decision to recommend that Wells Fargo Corporate & Investment Banking underwrite the deal after he said

The rapid population growth Idaho has experienced has transformed its metropolitan areas from small towns into fast-paced cities. The state managed that growth well enough on the fiscal side, by maintaining high reserve levels and taking budgetary actions when needed, to earn a Fitch Ratings boost to AAA. Fitch elevated Idaho’s issuer default rating from

Teachers’ and judges’ unions and organizations argued Wednesday with the Puerto Rico Oversight Board about how the bankruptcy court must interpret a local law on pensions, with the outcome likely to determine the viability of the proposed Plan of Adjustment. The teachers and judges, through their attorneys, said Act 53 bars the board, if it

Municipals faced some pressure Tuesday on another day of a weaker U.S. Treasury market while equities made gains. A large new-issue calendar began pricing, with a few deals bumped off the day-to-day calendar. Triple-A benchmarks saw cuts of one to two basis points. Ratios held in a range Tuesday. Municipal-to-Treasury ratios were at 49% in

The inclusion of tax-exempt income in a proposed federal corporate alternative minimum tax in the Build Back Better bill may have been an “oversight,” municipal market lobbyists say. And even if the AMT ends up becoming law, its impact on muni demand may be muted in an environment that has already seen many institutional buyers

President Joe Biden Monday signed into law a $1.1 trillion infrastructure package that will infuse billions into state and local governments. “We’re taking a monumental step forward to build back better as a nation,” said Biden at a White House ceremony attended by lawmakers, governors, mayors and others. “Things are going to turn around in

The Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago returns to the market this week after a five-year absence with a $500 million general obligation deal that offers some of the highest-grade local debt with a Chicago name. The Chicago name — despite the water reclamation district’s lack of ties to the city and governance by

Gov. Phil Murphy’s surprisingly narrow re-election victory and Senate President Steve Sweeney’s stunning loss to an unknown resonated well beyond New Jersey. National pundits flagged the election-night drama, along with Republican Glenn Youngkin’s gubernatorial victory in Virginia over Terry McAuliffe and other developments, as warning signs for Democrats heading into national midterm elections. New Jersey

Raising the cap on state and local tax deductions to $80,000 from $10,000 would reduce the federal income tax liability by $55.9 billion in 2021, making it less concentrated among those with the highest incomes and making it $35.3 billion cheaper for the government than repealing the SALT cap altogether. That was the takeaway from

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board has re-established two key advisory groups for its 2022 fiscal year: the Compliance Advisory Group (CAG) and the Municipal Fund Securities Advisory Group (MFSAG). The MSRB is also seeking input on topics it should consider in developing compliance resources and tools for municipal fund securities. In a November 11 announcement,

Municipal bonds were slightly weaker Friday inside 10 years, but trading was light and munis still outperformed U.S. Treasuries, which weakened further on the day from Wednesday’s large sell-off. Investors put nearly $2 billion into municipal bond mutual funds for the most recent week with high-yield reversing a downward course to hit $1.2 billion following

Two sets of teachers’ unions and a judiciary association filed separate challenges to a Puerto Rico Oversight Board pension law interpretation the board has said is necessary to enact of the Plan of Adjustment. The teachers’ unions filed in the final hour before the 5 p.m. AST Friday deadline that Puerto Rico bankruptcy Judge Laura

As environmental, social and governance factors have become more important to investors in the municipal market, more market participants are jumping into the space to provide ESG data and analytics. Intercontinental Exchange this week expanded its reference data coverage to now include two million fixed-income instruments, including municipals, in an effort to provide greater transparency

A federal judge in Michigan signed off on a $626.25 million settlement that resolves litigation over the state’s role in the Flint water contamination crisis, closing one chapter of the debacle as legal cases proceed on other tracks against former state officials and bond underwriters. The state sold $603 million of taxable bonds in June

States would enjoy more private activity bond volume flexibility under an affordable housing provision in the Build Back Better bill. The legislation would reduce the so-called financing test for tax-exempt private activity bonds to 25% from 50%. Lowering the threshold would free up states’ private activity volume for more affordable housing, or any other projects

Robin Prunty, chief analytical officer, U.S. Public Finance at S&P Global Ratings, and Arlesa Wood, director of bond administration for Miami-Dade County, Florida, have been named the private and public sector winners of 2021’s Freda Johnson Award for Trailblazing Women in Public Finance. Along with Prunty and Wood, the Northeast Women in Public Finance have

The jockeying has begun among Illinois political leaders, labor and planning organizations as they stake out their priorities for the state’s more than $17 billion share of the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill that awaits President Biden’s signature. State Senate President Don Harmon and House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch, both Democrats, put their support behind the

It was a good day to be an issuer in the municipal primary market. With U.S. Treasuries rallying, municipals followed with triple-A benchmark yields falling as much as five basis points out long and more than $6 billion of new issues were digested in both competitive and negotiated markets, some deals seeing large repricings to

Municipals were steady on Monday as all eyes were on the more than $9 billion of supply headed to the primary in a holiday-shortened week. “The municipal market is focused on the number of deals being priced Tuesday and Wednesday,” a New York underwriter said Monday, pointing to the Veteran’s Day market close on Thursday.

The bipartisan infrastructure bill provides the muni industry with a considerable win, though muni industry advocates are still pushing for their largest priorities to be included in the still unfinalized reconciliation bill. The bipartisan infrastructure bill includes $550 million to reauthorize surface transportation funding programs, and increases the federally-administered private activity bond volume cap to

Moody’s Investors Service returned Chicago O’Hare International Airport’s outlook to stable as traffic levels rebound from last year’s pandemic-induced drop and the city slows its pace of borrowing for the facility. All four rating agencies moved the airport’s outlook to negative in 2020 as the pandemic crippled air travel. The three others had previously restored