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