Bonds

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority has censured and fined Morgan Stanley $1.6 million for failing to close out 239 inter-dealer transactions within twenty days, as well as for failing to obtain physical possession of 247 short positions. In doing so, the banking giant violated MSRB Rule G-12(h) on uniform industry practices, MSRB Rule G-27 on

Exceptions for manual trades and limited trading activity are crucial if the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board’s amendments to Rule G-14, its controversial move to a one-minute reporting standard from the current fifteen minute window, is adopted by the Securities and Exchange Commission. That’s according to comments submitted to the SEC, which ranged from cautious acceptance

The secondary market was active and trading showed strong prints across the curve, pushing triple-A yields lower following a stronger U.S. Treasury market. Triple-A yields fell two to four basis points while UST yields fell two to three basis points. Municipal bond mutual funds saw the second week of outflows, with LSEG Lipper reporting $142.2

The Chicago Park District Board of Commissioners on Wednesday unanimously approved ordinances laying the groundwork to issue roughly $26 million of general obligation limited bonds and $11 million of alternate revenue bonds, and to refund up to $145.9 million outstanding of Series 2021A bonds through a tender that would convert the taxable bonds to tax-exempt

Munis were steady to a touch firmer in spots and new-issues fared well in the primary, while U.S. Treasury yields fell and equities ended the trading session up as markets further digested inflation data and its effects on future Fed moves. Triple-A yields fell a basis point or two, depending on the curve, while USTs

Tackling Houston’s structural budget gap is at the top of Melissa Dubowski’s to-do list as the city’s finance director. The nearly 10-year veteran of Houston government, who served as a deputy director overseeing debt and cash flow forecasts since 2019, was tapped for the top post by Mayor John Whitmire after he took office in

The number of distressed charter schools rose to a record in the beginning of 2024 as the sector struggles with the end of pandemic assistance and rising costs. So far this year, five charter schools have become impaired, meaning a borrower has defaulted on their debt, broken a covenant or used some emergency means to

Massachusetts Governor Maura T. Healey’s $56.1 billion budget proposal for fiscal 2025 calls for increased funding to the state’s Commonwealth Transportation Fund that will enable it to borrow an additional $1.1 billion over the next five years. The fiscal 2025 budget proposal, which represents a 2.9% increase over the current year’s spending, would dedicate $250

The Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority bankruptcy proceedings will not be paused despite a request from bond parties, U.S. District Court Judge Laura Taylor Swain said Monday. Though the First Circuit Court of Appeals is considering how bond parties’ liens on PREPA’s revenues should be treated in the bankruptcy, Swain said regardless of that court’s

When buses ferrying migrants north from Texas began arriving in Naperville, Illinois, which is roughly 30 miles from Chicago, local officials were caught off guard. “We had a total of six buses in December and they went directly to the Metra train station with occupants boarding trains to Chicago,” Naperville Director of Communications Linda LaClouche

The Internal Revenue Service has informed the Port of Port Arthur Navigation District of Jefferson County, Texas that the tax-exempt status of a 2017 $55 million bond issuance remains unresolved, months after the district initially disclosed that the IRS was casting doubt on the tax-exempt status of the bonds. The notice came via a notice on

The honeymoon phase for environmental, social and governance considerations in the municipal market is beginning to wane, giving way to a more thorough and dynamic vision for how issuers and market participants can deal with the hotly-politicized concpept. ESG was building steam before the pandemic, but has now become so overly-politicized that banks, underwriters and

Employee-owned international broker-dealer Baird has launched a California Public Finance group and hired veteran banker John Baracy as a managing director to run it and be the California K-12 market lead. “It’s been a market we wanted to expand in just given the size of the California economy,” said Brian Brewer, Baird’s director of public

The direction of interest rates will have the greatest impact on the municipal bond market this year, according to a vote taken at The Bond Buyer’s 2024 National Outlook Conference in Manhattan on Thursday. Almost three quarters of respondents, 72%, said interest rates would have the most significant effect on the public finance industry in

Municipals ended the week quieter than they began it with a mostly steady to firmer tone in spots Friday, outperforming U.S. Treasuries, which saw small losses. Equities were mixed at the close. Tax-exempt yields have moved higher with Treasuries, but outperformed on the whole, while municipal to UST ratios have been “largely moving sideways” in

Debt-shy Tennessee is eying private activity bonds under its newly authorized public private partnership program. Gov. Bill Lee signed the Transportation Modernization Act into law last April, supported by a $3 billion general fund infusion, making Tennessee the latest state to authorize P3s. The alternative delivery method will be used to build four toll lanes

Ex-IFS Securities trader Keith Wakefield committed securities and wire fraud when, as the broker-dealer’s head of fixed income, the Chicago resident made forbidden speculative trades and embezzled hundreds of thousands of dollars over a two-year period, an Illinois federal court jury found this week. According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of

In 2023 several municipal issuers made tender offers for their not-yet-callable high coupon tax-exempt bonds. In most cases, the intended goal was to refund and save interest. These tenders turned out to be remarkably unsuccessful — the average acceptance ratio was only around 30%. There was a dearth of the usual press releases reveling about

An active primary market was the focus Wednesday with the New York City TFA pricing for institutions with small changes to yields from its Tuesday retail offering, Massachusetts upsizing its GO refunding deal and Wisconsin selling green bonds in the competitive market. Triple-A muni yield curves were mostly little changed to a basis point of

Municipal bonds are part of an Illinois city’s plan to help the local casino build a bigger venue at a new location. In its current form, Aurora’s Hollywood Casino occupies a barge tethered near downtown on the Fox River. The city wants to build a brand new casino resort about five miles away, near an

The focus shifted fully into the primary market Tuesday as the secondary took a backseat to large new-issues pricing in both negotiated and competitive markets while U.S. Treasuries halted its two-day sell off to see gains on the day. Equities ended mixed. Munis were little changed Tuesday, as UST yields fell six to nine basis

It was not long ago that the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), a historic tax-reform package, came together seemingly overnight and reshaped the U.S. tax code while also reshaping the municipal bond market by eliminating tax-exempt advance refundings.   Once the dust settled, a retrospective review illuminated further near disasters, with Senate Republicans saving private

Guam’s latest proposed budget was hailed by analysts who said its approach should be copied by other U.S. territories. Gov. Lourdes Leon Guerrero proposed a 5.9% bigger general fund budget for fiscal 2025 days after Moody’s Investors Service raised the territory’s general obligation bonds to investment grade (Baa3) from speculative grade (Ba1); the first time

Repair needs for the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority MTA will cost at least $43 billion over the next several years, according to a new report issued by state comptroller Thomas DiNapoli. DiNapoli said the estimates by his office of the 2025 to 2029 period don’t include any new priorities to address accessibility, resiliency or

The Biden administration will not be appealing to the Supreme Court an Eleventh Circuit ruling in favor of states, who’ve challenged the American Rescue Plan Offset Provision that bars states from using federal aid dollars to fund tax cuts, in what may be an end to those state challenges. That decision was communicated in a

The Education Finance Council is turning up the pressure on the Internal Revenue Service for clarifications on bond rules that have gone unanswered for four years.  The trade group, which represents state-based and nonprofit higher education finance organizations, is asking the agency via a letter to clarify requirements listed in Section 144(b) of the Internal

Los Angeles International Airport had the private-activity bonds supporting its people mover train downgraded to junk with Fitch Ratings citing continuous and ongoing delays and a strained relationship between the developer and the airport. The $1.2 billion in PABs issued through the California Municipal Finance Authority for the project were downgraded to BB-plus from BBB-minus

A small-town southwest Missouri hospital is scrambling to restructure after its bond trustee declared it to be in default. In a special meeting Friday, the board of Nevada Regional Medical Center agreed to hire Stroudwater Associates’ Jason McCormick as its chief restructuring officer. The hospital had been searching for someone to fill that role after

Municipals saw losses Friday but outperformed by mostly sitting out a larger sell-off in U.S. Treasuries after jobs data showed higher-than-expected gains, forcing another recalibration for participants on rate cut timing. The January employment report came in stronger than expected, with wages rising at the highest rate since March 2022, leading analysts to suggest Federal

Proposed changes to California’s mental health system and a $6.4 billion bond measure proposed in Proposition 1 continue to garner more support as the March 5 election draws near. The proposition, which will be the only one on the March ballot, would use funds from California’s so-called millionaire’s tax to create more slots for people