Bonds

Municipal securities dealer groups said Friday they are opposed to the creation of a $20 billion Infrastructure Financing Authority as part of a $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure framework announced Thursday. Other public finance groups have varying positions. National Association of Counties spokesman Paul Guequierre said in an email, “Counties support federal investments in infrastructure using

Municipals called it a summer Friday with the secondary lightly traded and benchmarks little changed, even as U.S. Treasury yields rose, munis took a break from the relative volatility since the FOMC meeting midmonth. After a week and change of underperformance to U.S. Treasuries, where ratios moved higher for the first time since early in

Puerto Rico’s government may soon adopt a 24% increase in the island’s minimum wage, with local observers saying it would raise costs for businesses and actually cut employment participation. On Tuesday the Puerto Rico Senate approved a bill raising the minimum wage to $9 per hour from the federal $7.25 per hour. The Puerto Rico

A California bill that would require cities and counties to post on their websites how much police brutality and misconduct lawsuits cost them annually is gaining momentum. Assembly Bill 603, authored by Assembly Member Kevin McCarty, D-Sacramento, passed with a unanimous vote in the Assembly and is being heard July 5 in the Senate Committee

The Federal Reserve might consider an interest-rate hike from near zero as soon as late 2022 as the labor market reaches full employment and inflation is at the central bank’s goal, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston President Eric Rosengren said. “The criteria is that we have a sustainable inflation rate, that’s 2% or above, and

Municipals were little changed Thursday as the final new issues of the week priced with some bumps in repricings while U.S. Treasuries held steady. Refinitiv Lipper reported nearly $2 billion of inflows into municipal bond mutual funds. Fund flows continue to pour into municipal bond mutual funds, making up at least a quarter of the

Cook County, Illinois’ pandemic-driven fiscal wounds are on the mend with a surplus now expected this year and $121 million hole to close in 2022 that’s a shadow of last year’s $410 million gap. “It has been an exceptionally difficult last year but a combination of revenue bouncing back as the county opens up, federal

A change in how Moody’s Investors Service approaches lease-backed obligation ratings resulted in downgrades to six lease-revenue bonds supporting federal leases on privately owned property. The change in methodology came after Moody’s analysts realized the federal government had refinanced debt totaling $1.3 billion tied to six leased properties using an amortization structure that will result

Illinois moved closer to winning an upgrade thanks to budgetary steps in the right direction and a rosier revenue trajectory that Fitch Ratings recognized in raising the state’s outlook to positive from negative. Fitch on Wednesday affirmed the state’s BBB-minus general obligation rating — still the lowest investment grade score — and the BBB-plus assigned

Municipals saw some weakness and yield pressure on certain primary deals in repricings following an up and down U.S. Treasury market. Triple-A benchmark yields rose on bonds 10-years and out with one to two basis point cuts to scales. New issues saw a mixture of bumps and cuts on Tuesday, reflecting a general spread widening

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the price increases seen in the economy recently are bigger than expected but reiterated that they will likely wane. “A pretty substantial part, or perhaps all of the overshoot in inflation comes from categories that are directly affected by the re-opening of the economy such as used cars and

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said inflation had picked up but should move back toward the U.S. central bank’s 2% target once supply imbalances resolve. “Inflation has increased notably in recent months,” Powell said in written remarks prepared for his Tuesday testimony before the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis, citing increases in oil

Philadelphia expects to come to market on Wednesday with a $359.5 million sale of Series 2021B federally taxable water and wastewater revenue refunding bonds. Citigroup Global Markets Inc. and Loop Capital Markets are lead managers for the sale, which will feature an advanced refunding of some Series 2014A and 2015A bonds. Fitch Ratings and S&P

A new opinion issued by the Justice Department says Puerto Rico’s admission as a state could legally include a transition period to temporarily continue the special bankruptcy provisions under PROMESA. That’s good news for the ongoing restructuring of the territory’s debt because it provides an assurance that statehood would not necessarily involve an abrupt dissolution

Municipal bond yields rose on the short end Friday as munis again played catch up to the moves in short U.S. Treasuries and investors became more aggressive in bid lists for high-grade paper. The UST note, 0.785% on Tuesday, touched 0.96% in the afternoon and was at 0.89% near the close Friday, leading to the

Illinois spread penalties narrowed this month to levels in line with its ratings for the first time in years as the state reaps the benefits of swelling tax revenues, federal cash and a market looking for scarce yield. The state’s 10-year spread currently stands at 63 basis points higher than Refinitiv Municipal Market Data’s AAA

Parties have filed nearly 30 objections to the Puerto Rico Oversight Board’s proposed Disclosure Statement for its central government debt Plan of Adjustment, with a key complaint coming from the Puerto Rico government, which said it will not authorize new bonds if pensions are cut. The parties had until 5 p.m. on Tuesday to file

Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont said he would sign legislation authorizing adult-use cannabis after lawmakers approved it. “The states surrounding us already, or soon will, have legal adult-use markets,” Lamont said Thursday after the Senate approved the measure by a 16-11 vote, with nine senators abstaining. “We’re not only effectively modernizing our laws and addressing inequities,

Municipal bond yields rose by as much as seven basis points in the belly of the curve Thursday, playing catch-up to the U.S. Treasury market, while Refinitiv Lipper reported another large round of inflows, a nod from investors that they remain engaged in the market, regardless of low rates. Refinitiv Lipper reported $1.85 billion of

More than a year into the coronavirus pandemic, employers and employees are searching for an answer: What does the future of work have in store? Despite agreeing a return will be gradual, these populations disagree on important points concerning the cadence of remote work and how to support a workplace in flux. Bridging this communication

Two veteran municipal analyst professionals — John Kenward and Kathy Evers — retired this spring from Standard & Poor’s Global Ratings and Kate Boatright has moved over from the analyst side to take on Evers’ role as head of the U.S. relationship management team. The Dallas-based Boatright, who was a senior director for the U.S.

The E.&J. Gallo Winery will build a new plant in South Carolina, Gov. Henry McMaster and the state Department of Commerce said Tuesday. The $423 million production facility and distribution center in Chester County is expected to create 496 new jobs over the next eight years. In May, the Commerce Department received authorization from the

Municipals played catch up to U.S. Treasuries and were softer outside of 10 years, but the primary was the focus Tuesday with several large new issues repriced to lower and higher yields. Triple-A benchmarks rose one to two basis points, USTs were little changed on the day in the 10-year and off a basis point

Municipals were little changed Monday as the market awaits the larger new-issue calendar and participants position themselves ahead of the Federal Reserve meeting. After a week of U.S. Treasury strength, rates rose Monday bringing the 10-year back to 1.50% after hitting 1.43% Thursday, a three-month low. Municipals did not follow and few participants anticipate any

With the race for New York mayor riveted on public safety, candidates for comptroller got a chance to discuss the city’s finances in their first televised debate. That didn’t stop the top eight Democratic hopefuls from extending beyond financial nuts-and-bolts on Thursday’s NY1 get-together, in advance of the June 22 primary. Scott Stringer, who has

A $4.4 billion, three-year boost in Wisconsin revenue projections will drive its once barren budget reserve to record levels and throw more fuel into the partisan showdown over the next state budget. The Legislature Fiscal Bureau’s fresh round of revenue projections – which are offered biennially in the spring to allow lawmakers to finalize the

Two bipartisan Senate infrastructure proposals unveiled Thursday have raised hope that the Biden administration will avert a Democrats-only approach. One involves a wide-ranging framework worked out by 10 senators while the other involves more narrowly tailored legislation that would spend $78 billion on passenger and freight rail. The narrowly focused bill is the latest bipartisan

The private operator of Puerto Rico’s electric transmission and distribution systems has been plagued by outages and protests since it took over June 1, culminating in a 900,000-customer outage Thursday. LUMA Energy’s takeover of these systems is a central part of the Puerto Rico Oversight Board’s plans to transform the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority

As the market for ESG-certified bonds grows, Oregon-based Kestrel Verifiers is growing along with it. The eight-person women-owned firm has added two new employees this year and gained marquee clients like Stanford University, the American Museum of Natural History in New York City and the cities of Boston and Seattle, the latter a joint project

Municipal bonds were firm Friday as the market prepares for a healthy dose of new-issue supply while the Federal Reserve gets ready to decide the course of monetary policy in the face of rising inflation. Yields on top-quality munis were flat on the AAA scales Friday; on the week, muni yields were as much as