Bonds

For the first time in North Carolina history, an economically unstable municipality has been dissolved. The Local Government Commission Tuesday afternoon unanimously voted to dissolve the Town of East Laurinburg as an incorporated entity. It marked the first time the LGC has used the powers it was recently granted by state lawmakers. In November the

Municipal secondary trading was light and triple-A benchmark yields left unchanged as the large primary diverted attention while U.S. Treasuries were weaker again and equities rallied. Trading was down 18% from Monday, which was already a light day at $5.6 billion par traded, as new issues were the focus and provided some direction. The day’s

Chicago heads into the market this week with an upsized $2.2 billion refinancing under its general obligation and Sales Tax Securitization Corp. credits after finalizing the results of a tender and exchange offer. “It’s roundly about $1 billion more for the results of the tender,” Chicago Chief Financial Officer Jennie Huang Bennett’s office said in

Praise poured in from throughout Connecticut when Kevin Lembo announced his resignation as state comptroller. Lembo, 58, has been comptroller for 11 years. On Friday he cited a “serious and debilitating cardiac condition that has recently been worsening in intensity and severity.” According to Lembo, cardiologists recommended that he not continue working. “Unfortunately, my health

Nine parties filed challenges to the Puerto Rico Oversight Board’s written arguments for its proposed Plan of Adjustment. The challenges concern preemption of pension laws, various bondholder treatments and whether government employees were given ample notice of the plan. The board filed its “proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law” in connection with confirmation

The federal government is seeking feedback on the new Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and one of the act’s most high-profile sections, the electric vehicle charging infrastructure program. The pair of Requests for Information, published this week, mark the first step toward developing guidance for the $1.1 trillion package. The act features dozens of new

Eric Adams has about a month before his Jan. 1 swearing in as New York mayor to prepare for his first budget presentation. While he inherits a city with roughly $15 billion in multiple rounds of emergency federal funding, better-than-expected revenue and diminished outyear budget gaps, a raft of fiscal variables will confront him at

Mark Zehner has retired from his position as deputy chief of the Office of Municipal Securities and Public Pensions Unit at the Securities and Exchange Commission after almost 25 years with the regulator, passing the torch to Rebecca Olsen, former director of the office of municipal securities. Zehner’s last day with the Commission was Nov.

After a full seven trading sessions of volatility in U.S. Treasuries and equities, municipals ended Friday quiet, little changed, and again ignored the moves in other markets. Treasuries saw yields fall and equities sold off on lower-than-expected employment figures while triple-A municipal benchmark yields were steady to firmer by a basis point in spots. This

The Securities and Exchange Commission has named Ernesto A. Lanza as the new acting director for the Office of Municipal Securities. The announcement of the appointment came after Rebecca Olsen’s move from director to deputy chief became public following the retirement of longtime regulator and former deputy chief Mark Zehner. Bloomberg News “I look forward

The Bay Area Toll Authority’s plans to price $1.3 billion in toll bridge revenue bonds next week are expected to see robust demand, even as the seven-bridge system sees a softer pandemic recovery than other tollway credits in the U.S. Lead managers BofA Securities, Citi and JP Morgan, along with co-manager Goldman Sachs & Co.

Municipals were mostly steady throughout the day and the primary was the focus while U.S. Treasuries whipsawed and stocks sold off after the first Omicron case was reported in California. The Investment Company Institute reported $974 million of inflows into municipal bond mutual funds and another round of small outflows from exchange-traded funds. Treasuries ended

Private investment and flexible federal rules will be key to ensuring that the new $1.1 trillion infrastructure program perseveres beyond a 10-year horizon, governors said Tuesday during the National Governors Association Infrastructure Summit. A bridge project in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, is a case study in how big public projects will need private investment on top

Municipals were stronger Tuesday as U.S. Treasuries rallied and stocks sold off on Omicron variant concerns and Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s comments on speeding up tapering the Fed’s bond buying sooner than originally expected. It is appropriate to “consider ramping up tapering” and it will be discussed at the next FOMC meeting, when more

New York’s Moynihan Train Hall project has received a $606.7 million direct loan under the federal Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act. The refinancing will add up to $80.5 million to the $526.5 million TIFIA loan to the Empire State Development Corp. that closed in 2017, the U.S. Department of Transportation said Monday. The additional

Former municipal advisor Porter Bingham will plead guilty to one count of fraud as part of an agreement with federal prosecutors. “He will be pleading to one count, with a recommendation in the lower 25% of sentencing guidelines,” said  Bingham’s attorney, Philip Hearn of the Jackson, Mississippi, Hearn Law firm. “Federal sentencing guidelines show a

With winter coming on, Texas is still trying to overcome the damage from three days of freezing weather in February that crippled the state’s main power grid and undermined the credibility of its leaders. According to a poll released this month, Texas voters disapprove of how state leaders have handled the reliability of the electricity

Municipals were very lightly traded, particularly out long, giving little direction to triple-A benchmark yields and leading to another day of outperformance of the asset class to the volatility in U.S. Treasuries and equities. Triple-A benchmark scales were mixed with Refinitiv MMD leaving its scale unchanged, while IHS Markit, ICE Data Services and Bloomberg BVAL

With the recent passage of infrastructure legislation in Washington, I am reminded how important the tax-exempt municipal market is to our nation’s ability to finance infrastructure through the multitude of municipal issuers across the country. At the same time, I am perplexed as to why municipal market issuance has been stuck in the range of

Shortly after her swearing in as Boston mayor, Michelle Wu acted on her signature campaign theme, free transit rides. Sidestepping the state-run Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, Wu asked the City Council to approve the use of $8 million in federal rescue funding to expand a pilot program for two more years, to backstop rides on

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed two executive orders laying the groundwork to speed up lead service line replacement and road and bridge spending once the state begins receiving its share of the $1.2 trillion federal infrastructure package. Michigan is set to receive about $10 billion over five years from the package signed by President Biden,

Municipals strengthened as much as three basis points on Friday as Treasuries rose in a flight-to-safety bid while stock prices plunged on fears that a coronavirus resurgence could derail the economic recovery in the U.S. and around the world. “With the news out of the World Health Organization that a new and powerful COVID variant

If the Build Back Better legislation under consideration in the Senate becomes law, the cash would start to flow in late 2022 and peak in 2025. In reports released this week, Moody’s Investors Service and Fitch Ratings outlined the expected cash flow of the bill and its impact on the fiscal and economic position of

The Puerto Rico bankruptcy judge is likely to approve the Oversight Board-proposed Plan of Adjustment or something close to it this winter, observers and analysts say. While participants hoped the plan would be effective by Dec. 15 (a deadline in the bondholder Plan Support Agreement), on Nov. 17 the U.S. Attorney General asked for a

Former U.S. Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers said Federal Reserve policy makers are signaling a “new era” in which they recognize the U.S. economy is overheating as inflation runs at its fastest in three decades. Speaking on Bloomberg Television, Summers said that Fed Chairman Jerome Powell and Gov. Lael Brainard this week used rhetoric that “portends

Municipals ended Wednesday where they began the week — unchanged — as traders’ minds were on a meal rather than munis. While the market reopens on Friday, shops will only have a skeleton staff on duty during the abbreviated post-Thanksgiving trading session with the next real test of benchmark levels taking place on Monday. Economic

Bankruptcy Judge Laura Taylor Swain will give the U.S. Department of Justice until early February to file opinions on the constitutionality of the law that was the basis for the restructuring deal, meaning a final decision on the Puerto Rico Plan of Adjustment may be pushed into 2022. Swain gave the District Attorney until Jan.

Kaufman Hall & Associates LLC acquired Healthcare Real Estate Capital LLC last week in a move that folds the niche real estate capital markets arena into the array of advisory services it offers healthcare and higher education borrowers. The Illinois-based independent advisory firm provides advice on specific deals, long-term and strategic financial and capital planning,

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

The Securities and Exchange Commission’s enforcement results for fiscal year 2021 highlight the SEC’s focus on disclosure in the municipal finance space. The results, released late Thursday, show the Commission overall filed 7% more enforcement actions in 2021 than in 2020. It also awarded over $564 million to more than 100 whistleblowers, surpassing $1 billion