Bonds

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

Municipal market lobbyists are pushing for the restoration of tax-exempt advance refunding in the Senate version of Build Back Better, arguing that the loss of the financing tool has cost issuers more than $10 billion. “There is definitely support on the Senate Finance Committee for [tax-exempt] advance refunding,” said Emily Brock, director of the federal

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

A registered general securities representative has agreed to pay $10,000 to settle Financial Industry Regulatory Authority charges that he violated the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board’s fair dealing rule when he provided incorrect and misleading account reports to a customer. Antoine Nabih Souma agreed to pay the fine and be subject to a two-month suspension from

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

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

Dallas Area Rapid Transit authority will supply a hungry muni market with $1 billion of highly-rated revenue refunding bonds, taking advantage of continuing low interest rates. Coming in two tranches — $572.7 million of taxable senior lien Series A and $428.2 million of tax-exempt Series B — the bonds are expected to price Tuesday. “We’re

WASHINGTON — Federal Reserve Gov. Randal Quarles is stepping down from the central bank at the end of December, giving President Joe Biden another open seat to fill atop the powerful bank regulatory and monetary policy body. Quarles, a key architect of regulatory relief measures during the Trump administration, said it had “been a great

The largest infrastructure package in United States history is headed to President Joe Biden’s desk after the House passed the $1.1 trillion bill late Friday. The House passed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act by a vote of 228-206 late Friday night after weeks of intense negotiations. It’s been on hold since the Senate’s passage

President Joe Biden met separately with Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell and Fed Governor Lael Brainard at the White House on Thursday as he considers who will lead the central bank next year, according to people familiar with the matter. He has not yet made a decision, they said. Brainard is regarded as Biden’s likeliest

Municipals were part of a wider fixed income market rally on Friday as high-grade yields were lower by as much as six basis points on the long end, buoyed by the stronger-than-expected October jobs data and upward revisions to nonfarm payrolls numbers for September and August. The rally sustained lower rates, a flat yield curve

Although 47 of the 61 Plan of Adjustment voting classes in Puerto Rico’s bankruptcy case officially approved it, including all bond classes, confirmation is not certain. Judge Laura Taylor Swain wanted a wide range of support for the plan from the voting classes and appears to have it. But it’s the judge’s decision on Act

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

Voters across the Southeast went to the polls on Tuesday to elect mayors, legislators and a governor across the region. In Virginia, voters picked Glenn Youngkin to be the governor, replacing Ralph Northam, who was term-limited out of office. The campaign drew national attention, pitting former Gov. Terry McAuliffe against political newcomer businessman Youngkin. Republican

As vacation cruising makes its return and demand for cargo remains strong, the outlook for Florida’s seaports is looking up. That’s the latest view from Fitch Ratings, which Friday revised its outlooks to stable from negative on both the Canaveral Port Authority and Port Everglades. At the same time, Fitch affirmed the A-minus rating on

As the lights and tumult died down, New York City Mayor-elect Eric Adams stood among his supporters at his campaign headquarters in Brooklyn and looked out over the crowd. Just having defeated Republican Curtis Sliwa, by a 73% to 23% margin Tuesday night, Adams felt it was time to bring home his message of unity

Fuel tax rebates attributable to the miles driven on an interstate highway could help to quell long-standing concerns of double taxation by partly offsetting the cost of new tolls, according to a new report from the Reason Foundation. The report was authored by Robert Poole, director of transportation policy at the Libertarian think tank. Interstates,

The Puerto Rico bankruptcy judge approved the Oversight Board’s plan to notify affected parties of its interpretation of the bond law supporting the bankruptcy, allowing the board’s motion to move forward with pension changes in the Plan of Adjustment. On Monday the board’s lead attorney told Judge Laura Taylor Swain the current bond adjustment deal

An increase in oil prices that has benefited Alaska coffers spurred another political fight in the Last Frontier over how much to hand out to state residents from the state’s Permanent Fund. The state’s preliminary revenue forecast released by the Department of Revenue on Friday showed that the recent increase in oil prices could lead

Puerto Rico’s economic activity index for August showed improvements from July and from August 2020. The index’s value was up 0.2% from July and up 3.3% from August 2020. August was the second consecutive month the index went up on a month-to-month basis. “The recovery in economic activity continues but at a weaker pace,” said

On a day when the Federal Open Market Committee made taper official, equities hit all-time record highs and U.S. Treasuries lost ground, while municipals made gains early on and stuck with them in an actively traded secondary. High-grade benchmark yields fell one to three basis points while USTs ended the day higher after an up-and-down

Fort Worth Independent School District’s $1.2 billion of bonds appeared to have passed by 42 votes. If the $1.2 billion Proposition A holds on to its razor-majority out of more than 24,600 votes, it will be the only one of four on Fort Worth’s ISD ballot to win approval, according to preliminary results. Results are

A federal judge approved civil sanctions against former IFS Securities Inc. trader Keith A. Wakefield, while a parallel criminal case advances with an arraignment set for Nov. 9. Wakefield is accused of embezzling funds and doctoring the now defunct Atlanta-based firm’s books as part of a cover-up, as well as unauthorized trading of fixed-income securities

Municipals saw yields rise in spots along the curve, mostly inside of 10 years, as secondary trading picked up, and more bonds were out for the bid. U.S. Treasuries moved to lower yields and equities ended in the black. Triple-A benchmark yield curves saw one to two basis point cuts. After mostly ignoring the better

As California Gov. Gavin Newsom preps for his annual budget reveal in January, he anticipates another “historic surplus,” he said during an interview at the Milken Institute’s global conference last week. The state’s revenues were $9.1 billion more than expectations outlined in the fiscal 2022 budget signed in July, according to the state Department of

Puerto Rico bankruptcy Judge Laura Taylor Swain threatened to dismiss the case and ordered the bankruptcy parties to mediation. “My patience is wearing thin,” Swain said, noting the case has taken 4 1/2 years so far. Puerto Rico could lose bankruptcy protection against bondholder suits, she said, as she might “be forced to consider” dismissing

Municipals faced pressure on the short end, with the one- and two-year yields rising two basis points, while U.S. Treasuries saw gains on bonds inside five-years and equities were in the black. For municipals, Monday’s session was more about readying for the primary and prepping for month-end positioning. Municipal-to-UST ratios showed the 5-year at 53%,

The Internal Revenue Service has moved to mandatory electronic filing of its Form 8038-CP, its form for returning credit payments to issuers of qualified bonds. That and a number of other developments were announced during the IRS update as part of the Government Finance Officers Association’s 3rd annual MiniMuni conference. “The IRS is moving to

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s $4.4 billion 2022 bonding package heads to the City Council for a vote next week after surviving a backlash over the lack of ward-by-ward specifics about how the city would spend $660 million of recovery plan borrowing. The bonding package, along with a $1.7 billion property tax levy that’s up $76.5

Los Angeles received an improved outlook from Fitch Ratings ahead of plans to issue bonds to build housing for people living on the streets. Fitch revised its outlook on the city’s debt to stable from negative ahead of the $276.7 million competitive deal slated for Wednesday that pays for housing and refunds existing debt. The