Bonds

The Florida state legislative session ended Friday with lawmakers approving a $117.46 billion budget for fiscal 2024-2025, up 0.8% from the $116.5 billion fiscal 2023-2024 budget. This year’s budget provides another $500 million toward accelerating the debt pay-down. The general fund budget totals roughly $49.4 billion, a 7.2% increase from the current fiscal year’s budget

Municipals were little changed Wednesday as two billion-dollar-plus deals from the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York and CommonSpirit Health took focus. U.S. Treasuries were weaker and equities were mixed. The two-year muni-to-Treasury ratio Wednesday was at 59%, the three-year at 59%, the five-year at 57%, the 10-year at 57% and the 30-year

Keeping state coffers stocked and liquid requires a delicate mix of analysis, hedging and listening, with an emphasis on remaining nimble over the coming months. “Over the last eighteen months, the Fed’s told you what the answer is, and the market has continually bet against them,” said Thomas Waters, chief investment officer, Pennsylvania Treasury.  ”They’ve

Munis were steady as the primary market took focus with the $2.8 billion retail pricing from the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York. U.S. Treasuries were weaker and equities rallied after the Consumer Price Index showed inflation ticked up in February. Bond yields didn’t move much upon the CPI release, but Treasuries grew

The National Football League’s Chicago Bears are pursuing plans to build a publicly owned domed stadium in Chicago, boosted by $2 billion of private funds.  The team has changed course after chasing a planned stadium development in Arlington Heights, a northwest suburb of Chicago, where talks were bogged down amid disagreements with three area school

Munis were steady Monday ahead of a large new-issue calendar, while U.S. Treasuries were weaker and equities ended mixed. Munis continue to see strong demand for bonds over the past several weeks, which has “pushed munis to be richer on a relative value basis versus Treasuries,” said Jason Wong, vice president of municipals at AmeriVet

Municipals were steady ahead of a larger new-issue calendar, while U.S. Treasuries and equities were mixed after a better-than-expected jobs report. High-yield and taxable munis outperformed this week, Bond Buyer 30-day visible supply grows to $13.27 billion with $9 billion plus of it pricing next week and opportunistic cash continues to sit on the sidelines.

As the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act nears its midpoint, the massive uptick in discretionary grants for transportation infrastructure threatens to undermine the law’s effectiveness because of chronic delays and bureaucratic confusion. That’s what county and state representatives told lawmakers Thursday during a House Transportation & Infrastructure hearing on the rollout of the IIJA’s discretionary

A routine change of leadership on the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure is looking more like a power struggle in a legislative body that carries weight in public finance policy and rulings. On Wednesday Rep. Rick Crawford ,R-Ark., formally announced he was running for the Chairmanship of the T&I Committee while Rep. Sam Graves,

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority has fined NewEdge Securities, the brokerage arm of NewEdge Capital Group $90,000, in addition to restitution of $44,927.83 for charging unfair prices on 62 corporate bond transactions and six municipal bond transactions. Along with the fine and restitution, the firm has been censured for violating FINRA Rules 2121 and 2010,

President Biden reignited the tax debate in his State of the Union address Wednesday, touting the progress he’s made so far in his three years in office and the amount of work still needed to be done on taxes, setting up a larger partisan battle for the coming year. “The way to make the tax

One tool aimed at helping to solve California’s notorious affordable housing crisis appears to be headed for a crisis of its own. Defaults are rising on highly leveraged unrated workforce housing bonds, primarily issued over the last few years in California to purchase apartment buildings, when interest rates were near zero. So far, six out

A group of investors have challenged the legality of the Regents of the University of California’s ability to trigger an extraordinary redemption provision to refund their outstanding Build America Bonds. This may not be the last challenge as several issuers have made clear they intend to use the ERP to refund billions of their outstanding

Fitch Ratings upgraded the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s $1 billion of outstanding transportation revenue bonds (TRBs) to AA from A. The New York City subway system is part of the MTA. “A healthy credit rating is more than just a score, it can attract investors and lower interest rates at which the bonds are

Loop Capital Markets has added four former Citi and UBS public finance professionals to its ranks, joining the growing list of firms to expand their banking teams in the muni space. John Malpiede, John Giammarino and Alain Garcia will be joining Loop Capital from Citi, and Candace Kelly is moving over from UBS.  “The additions

Municipals improved Wednesday, as U.S. Treasury yields fell five years and out and equities saw gains after Fed Chair Jerome Powell indicated rate cuts are still set for this year. “The Fed wants to see continued evidence that inflation is moving closer to target,” said Jeff Lipton, managing director of credit research at Oppenheimer., who

The Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority bond trustee said the Oversight Board’s proposed plan of adjustment breaches the bonds’ trust agreement. “There is a fundamental clash between the duties of bondholders to each other in the trust agreement and the three bondholder [plan support agreements (PSAs)] in the plan,” said bond trustee U.S. Bank N.A.

The primary market was the focus Tuesday, as several large deals priced to strong reception, led by an upsized pricing of $1.4 billion from the New York City Municipal Water Finance Authority. Municipals were little changed in secondary trading, underperforming U.S. Treasuries, while equities were down near the close, as all markets await Federal Reserve

The municipal primary kicked into swing Monday with New York City Municipal waters pricing for retail investors while the secondary was quiet in light trading leading to a steady tone, even as U.S. Treasuries were weaker and equities were mixed near the close. In the primary market Monday, Siebert Williams Shank held a one-day retail

The bankers on a $167.9 million refunding say San Diego Community College District became the first community college in California to tender general obligation bonds in a deal that converted taxable debt into tax-exempt for savings. RBC managing directors Karma Pemba and Katherine Jacobson priced the debt for the community college on Feb. 8, achieving

Municipals were little changed to end the week ahead of an estimated $6.1 billion new-issue calendar. U.S. Treasuries were firmer, and equities ended up. Muni yields were steady throughout the week, ignoring small but “well-behaved” UST movements, which stayed “in a relatively narrow range despite some important data releases,” according to Barclays PLC strategists Mikhail