Bonds

Lake Erie College, a small private school in Ohio, entered into a forbearance agreement with bondholders after the school didn’t meet certain covenants it agreed to as part of a debt sale.  The Painesville, Ohio-based institution, which has just over 700 undergraduate students, is the latest small college to see its financial struggles extend into

Municipals faced rising yields in the secondary market Wednesday while large new-issues priced in the primary market. U.S. Treasuries were weaker again, and equities saw more losses. The Investment Company Institute Wednesday reported large inflows into municipal bond mutual funds for the week ending Jan. 10, with investors adding $2.066 billion to funds following $77

The Federal Reserve should be able to “methodically and carefully” lower its interest rate target this year, if inflation continues to moderate, Federal Reserve Gov. Christopher Waller said Tuesday. “When the time is right to begin lowering rates, I believe it can and should be lowered methodically and carefully,” Waller said in a Brookings event.

Munis were slightly weaker to start the holiday-shortened ahead of several large new issues, but the asset class outperformed U.S. Treasuries on the day. Equities saw losses. Muni yields were cut up to four basis points, depending on the scale, while UST yields rose eight to 11 basis points. Munis have “struggled to get out

Municipal bond insurance grew 10.4% year-over-year in 2023 leading to the highest market penetration rate since 2008, despite a drop in overall bond volume. While municipal issuance ended 2023 slightly down, demand for bond insurance continued to grow as market participants turned to it for investor confidence, increased market liquidity and enhanced credit ratings. The

The Chicago Board of Education on Wednesday saw its issuer rating and debt ratings from Moody’s Investors Service upgraded a notch, to Ba1 from Ba2 — still speculative grade, but one level below investment-grade status. The rating outlook remains positive after the upgrade. Moody’s cited improvements in Chicago Public Schools’ operating fund net cash balance,

In September 2015, then Bank of England Governor Mark Carney gave a speech in which he famously referred to the “Tragedy of the Horizon.” He was referring to the fact that financial markets tend to mis-price climate risk because the perceived timing for such risk lies far into the future, beyond the normal investment horizon

First Eagle Investments has hired John Suh and Andrew Belsky as credit analysts as the firm continues to build out its high-yield team under Chief Investment Officer and high-yield manager John Miller. Suh, based in New York, previously was a trader/analyst on the high yield desk in JPMorgan’s public finance division. He was at JPMorgan

UBS has settled charges with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, agreeing to a censure and a $100,000 fine for failing to include the Non-Transaction Based Compensation indicator when reporting 91,059 municipal securities transactions to the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board. For this, UBS violated MSRB Rule G-14 on customer transaction reporting, which requires firms to report

Washington state’s rating outlook was revised to positive from stable Thursday by S&P Global Ratings, citing the state’s growing economy and strong reserves. The outlook revision means there is a one-in-three chance the state could have its AA-plus rating upgraded to AAA by S&P over the two-year outlook period, said Oscar Padilla, an S&P director.

Puerto Rico Secretary of the Treasury and Chief Financial Officer Francisco Parés Alicea will resign effective Jan. 31. Gov. Pedro Pierluisi announced the resignation and said Nelson Pérez Méndez will serve as the interim Secretary of the Treasury. Pérez Méndez was deputy director of the Fiscal Agency and Financial Advisory Authority, focusing on the central

Municipals were little changed ahead of a holiday-shortened week, while U.S. Treasuries were firmer 10 years and in and equities were mixed near the close. The muni market, as expected, has “remained in a sideways mode” so far in this year with muni-UST ratios grinding lower, said BofA Securities strategists in a weekly report. While

Marina Wiant has been appointed by State Treasurer Fiona Ma to replace Nancee Robles as executive director of the California Debt Limit Allocation Committee and the California Tax Credit Allocation Committee. Wiant, who started in those posts Wednesday, fills the positions that had been vacant since Robles announced in July that she would be retiring

The U.S. Virgin Islands government is short on cash for its operations and its governor is asking the legislature to borrow $55 million to cover them. Gov. Albert Bryan Jr. will send his financial team to a Virgin Islands Senate hearing next week to argue for a change in usage for a letter of credit

Jeff Landry was sworn in as the state’s 57th governor on Monday, while John Fleming was sworn in as state treasurer and Elizabeth Baker Murrill took over as state attorney general. In an October election, Landry, a conservative Republican, replaced Democrat John Bel Edwards, who was term-limited out of office. He had been the state attorney

Municipals continued to experience a short-end correction Wednesday amid a busy day in the primary market which saw Jefferson County, Alabama’s, mega sewer refunding deal price along with a billion-plus of Massachusetts GOs offered to retail. U.S. Treasuries were slightly weaker out long and equities were in the black near the close. The municipal AAA

The U.S. District Court’s interpretation gave more to Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority bondholders than legally allowed, the Puerto Rico Oversight Board told the First Circuit Court of Appeals. Not only are the bondholders wrong in claiming a lien on all revenues coming to PREPA but District Judge Laura Taylor Swain was wrong in awarding

Municipals saw a short-end correction Tuesday, with the one-year being hit the hardest, amid two large deals in the primary market. U.S. Treasuries were little changed and equities ended down. Triple-A yields rose six to 11 basis points on the short end, as more investors put pressure there amid what many consider to be too

Fitch Ratings assigned A, BBB-plus and BBB ratings and a stable outlook to three tranches of bonds totaling up to $3 billion the Alameda Corridor Transportation Authority plans to price as part of a tender offer and debt restructuring plan. The authority operates a 20-mile freight rail corridor primarily along Alameda Street that transports goods

Munis were weaker Monday ahead of a $9 billion new-issue slate and the first full week of 2024 while U.S. Treasury yields fell and equities ended up. Munis “continue to be expensive when compared to Treasuries, falling well below the average of 85% for 10-year munis,” said Jason Wong, vice president of municipals at AmeriVet

Continued financial pressure will impact the nonprofit healthcare system in 2024, Fitch Ratings and S&P Global Ratings analysts said Thursday. “We think we have another tough year ahead of us,” Fitch Senior Director Kevin Holloran said during a webinar. Despite some positives, such as an increase in demand, labor costs remain a major problem for

From baby bonds to pension funding, 2023 was a year for progress in Connecticut, according to the annual report released Wednesday by State Treasurer Erick Russell. “The work done by our agency often focuses on the long-term — sustained investment success, low-cost infrastructure funding, helping families save for college, and now our landmark ‘CT Baby

David Elgart, former president and chief compliance officer of the now defunct Roswell, Georgia-based Sequoia Investments has agreed to settle charges with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority for his role in acting as an unregistered dealer between May 2020 and May 2021, accepting a suspended fine. Without admitting or denying the findings, Elgart consented to

As government funding deadlines loom just weeks away, cities and states face fallout from federal aid cuts, the claw back of pandemic funds and reductions in the always-vulnerable Build America Bond subsidies. The federal government is currently operating under a pair of short-term continuing resolutions that expire within weeks. The departments of Agriculture, Veterans Affairs,

The U.S. District Court for Puerto Rico ended a Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority bondholder discrimination adversary proceeding, asking parties to raise the issues they have during the plan of adjustment confirmation hearing planned to in early March. District Court Judge Laura Taylor Swain stayed the proceeding while saying plaintiffs GoldenTree and Syncora Guarantee should

Municipals were mixed ahead of a new-issue calendar that rebounds to more than $9 billion. U.S. Treasury yields rose further Friday as the December jobs report cast doubt on whether the Fed would start cutting rates in March. Equities were up near the close. There was already “significant upward pressure” on Treasury yields in recent

Municipals were weaker Thursday while municipal bond mutual funds reported outflows to start the year. U.S. Treasury yields rose and equities ended mixed. Triple-A yield curves were cut up to four basis points, depending on the scale, while UST yields rose seven to nine basis points. The two-year muni-to-Treasury ratio Thursday was at 56%, the

Bonds used to buy eight senior living properties in Michigan and Ohio are likely to default within six months, S&P Global Ratings said. On Dec. 21, S&P placed bonds issued for Great Lakes Senior Living Communities LLC — already rated deep in the speculative grades at CCC-minus — on CreditWatch with negative implications. The bonds

North Las Vegas, Nevada, this week had its long-term issuer default rating upgraded to A-minus from BBB-plus by Fitch Ratings as the city’s ratings continue an upward climb after falling to junk a decade ago. The city of 280,543 had been on the fiscal comeback trail since it fought off insolvency in 2014, even seeing

Municipals were little changed Wednesday, while U.S. Treasury yields fell slightly and equities ended the session down after the Federal Open Market Committee’s December meeting minutes offered little insights into future rate cuts. The two-year muni-to-Treasury ratio Wednesday was at 56%, the three-year at 58%, the five-year at 58%, the 10-year at 58% and the