Bonds

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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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