Category: Bonds

  • Munis hit hard on short end, damage felt along curve

    Municipals were hit hard Thursday with up to nine basis point cuts on the short end, but the damage was felt across the curve. U.S. Treasury yields rose while equities rallied in another see-saw day for markets. Trading was weaker out of the gates, with large blocks of high-grades changing hands at higher yields. Long…

  • Richard Davey to become president, COO of New York City Transit

    Former Massachusetts Secretary of Transportation Richard Davey has been chosen to be the next president of New York City Transit. New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority CEO Janno Lieber announced Wednesday that Davey will oversee operations for the city’s subways, buses, paratransit services and the Staten Island Railway. Public service and more importantly public transportation is…

  • Preston Hollow, Nuveen ready arguments over defamation accusations

    Lawyers for Preston Hollow Capital LLC and Nuveen Investments will square off Thursday over summary judgment requests and what expert testimony should be heard when PHC’s defamation allegations potentially go to trial this summer. Dallas-based PHC’s legal pursuit of the Chicago-based investment powerhouse forges on two years after a Delaware Chancery Court judge concluded the…

  • Munis sell off double-digits following UST rout

    Municipals sold off double-digit basis points Tuesday following continued market volatility and a rapidly rising U.S. Treasury market. Triple-A benchmark yields were cut up to 12 basis points, with the asset class unable to ignore the ongoing pressure from U.S. Treasuries, which saw yields rise another basis points . The Refinitiv MMD 10-year spot has…

  • Virgin Islands tender offer extended; $900M refunding on tap

    The U.S. Virgin Islands is extending its tender offer to holders of some of its outstanding matching fund bonds to Friday, in advance of an expected refunding of nearly $1 billion of the remaining bonds next week. The Virgin Islands Public Finance Authority and Matching Fund Special Purpose Securitization Corporation originally solicited bondholders to participate…

  • Federal loan, bonds provide momentum to California water project

    The United States Environmental Protection Agency formally invited the Sites Reservoir Authority to apply for a $2.2 billion loan, energizing the long-delayed massive storage project in northern California. The Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act loan announcement last week comes on top of word from the California Department of Water Resources on Wednesday that the…

  • Munis quiet amid UST sell-off

    Municipals were steady to weaker in spots Monday, while U.S. Treasuries sold off amid Federal Reserve Board Chairman Jerome Powell warning about widespread inflation and talks over hiking interest rates quicker than the Fed initially planned last week. As a result, muni-to-UST ratios fell. The five-year was at 72%, 85% in 10-years and 92% in…

  • Summers says Fed will need to hike to 4%-5% to beat inflation

    The U.S. Federal Reserve will need to raise interest rates higher than officials are currently projecting if it is to wrestle inflation back under control, former U.S. Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers said. While the central bank this week increased its benchmark rate by 25 basis points for the first time since 2018 and saw the…

  • MSRB warns of liquidity, tax concerns on discounted bonds

    Investors in municipal bonds should take into account that rising interest rates this year could lead bonds trading at a discount to be less liquid than those trading at par value, the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board warned Friday. Investors should also monitor their portfolios for bonds falling to a significant discount price, according to the…

  • DPC DATA tool measures climate risk for local governments, school districts

    DPC DATA has integrated climate and social risk scores into a product that uses Spatial Risk Systems’ (SRS) geospatial data, mapping physical climate risk and carbon transition risk for more than 25,000 muni obligors. MuniESG Solutions was created in response to demand from DPC’s clients for climate risk data as the key component of a…

  • California revenues beat projections by $17.5 billion

    California’s revenues for the first eight months of the fiscal year are $17.53 billion above projections included in the governor’s proposed budget in January, according to the Department of Finance. The state won’t know until May when Gov. Gavin Newsom releases his revised budget proposal if that alters the amount of the massive $45.7 billion…

  • Munis take a breath; calendar grows to $7.7B

    Municipals were steady to firmer in spots Friday with decent two-way flow in the secondary but a quieter session overall after weeks of major volatility led by geopolitical turmoil and central bank policy uncertainty. Markets were generally calmer in a post-rate hike environment with clearer signals from the Fed for its plans going forward. Short…

  • PREPA negotiations struggling for mediators

    A restructuring deal for the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority will not include any mediators who participated in the central government’s plan of adjustment while the Oversight Board doubled-down on excluding the local legislature in negotiating a new PREPA restructuring plan. Puerto Rico bankruptcy Judge Laura Taylor Swain said in a court filing on Thursday…

  • Pandemic accelerated hospital trends that strain balance sheets

    The COVID-19 pandemic stung not-for-profit hospital balance sheets hard in January amid the omicron surge and while those strains have eased, challenges persist as hospitals navigate a growing shift away from in-hospital care. The fiscal damage from the highly contagious omicron variant put a dent in margins, which sunk for the time in 11 months.…

  • Muni yields fall as buyers jump in

    Municipal yields fell on Thursday for the first time since March 1 as buyers emerged, while U.S. Treasuries rose out longer and equities improved again a day after the Fed’s first rate hike. Trading was stronger out of the gates, with large blocks of high-grades changing hands at stronger levels. Triple-A benchmark yields were bumped…

  • Municipals take back seat as Fed hikes rates

    After the Federal Reserve hiked interest rates for the first time since 2018 and said it would raise them six more times this year, U.S. Treasury yields continued to rise, while munis were relatively stable and equities rallied to close the session. Municipal to UST ratios showed the five-year at 76%, 90% in 10-years and…

  • Corruption’s murky toll on Chicago and Illinois finances

    Political corruption taints the reputations of Chicago and Illinois and may influence decisions by businesses and voters at the polls, but it’s harder to measure the indirect toll on ratings, borrowing costs, and population trends. While federal authorities in recent decades have nabbed several dozen city and state officials including two past governors, the high…

  • In setback for White House, Raskin withdraws nomination for Fed post

    WASHINGTON — Sarah Bloom Raskin, President Biden’s pick for vice chair for supervision of the Federal Reserve, has taken herself out of the running for the position. Raskin submitted a letter to the White House on Tuesday saying she would step aside so the politically gridlocked Senate Banking Committee would move forward with the Biden…

  • California lawmakers save UC Berkeley from enrollment crisis with last-minute bill

    California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed legislation Monday that averts a court order requiring the University of California-Berkeley to slash fall enrollment by 3,050 students. The lawsuit was brought by a group of Berkeley residents, who claim the university hasn’t built student housing commensurate with enrollment growth as outlined in its long-range development plan. Residents sued…

  • Washington state bill would protect highway bonds from gas tax fluctuations

    Lawmakers approved a Washington state bill last week that would supplement existing highway bond authorizations with an additional pledge of vehicle-related fees. Gov. Jay Inslee has 20 days from the Legislature’s approval to sign or veto the bill. “The Legislature recognizes the importance of transportation electrification and the need to maintain stable funding for highway…