Category: Bonds

  • Ratings agencies keeping eyes on Louisiana’s tax changes

    Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry signed into law a host of tax and spending changes that ratings agencies say should address a projected deficit but whose effects bear watching.Bloomberg News Fitch Ratings, Moody’s Ratings, and S&P Global Ratings say Louisiana’s recently adopted tax changes should address what had been projected to be a $587 million or…

  • Munis firmer, calendar remains elevated at $10B

    <img src=”https://public.flourish.studio/visualisation/21211283/thumbnail” width=”100%” alt=”chart visualization” /> Municipals were firmer ahead of a nearly $10 billion new-issue calendar as U.S. Treasury yields rose inside 10 years and equities were up late in the session. Since the start of 2025, UST yields sold off around 20 basis points but “retraced more than half on the back of…

  • Trump housing policy taking shape

    “Because of the broad, bipartisan support we have built for the LIHTCs, we believe there is a real opportunity to include housing credit provisions in the forthcoming major tax legislation,” said Emily Cadik, CEO, Affordable Housing Tax Credit Coalition. AHTC The Trump administration is sending out signals about how it intends to address the nation’s…

  • Fitch places Los Angeles and its city utility on rating watch negative

    Search and rescue operations in Los Angles Wednesday in the wake of the Palisades Fire. Bloomberg News Fitch Ratings placed four credits — led by the city of Los Angeles the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power — on rating watch negative, citing the region’s wildfires. Fitch also placed two utilities tightly linked to…

  • Tax-exempt bonds axed in menu of options floated by Ways and Means

    Rep. Jason Smith, R-Mo., chairs the House Ways and Means Committee weighing the tax-exemption’s fate. The House Ways and Means Committee is considering the total elimination of tax-exempt bonds, according to a 51-page list of targeted programs, policies and plans for a reconciliation bill obtained Friday by The Bond Buyer. It’s a wide-ranging and tentative…

  • Rating watches underscore hazy credit outlook from California wildfires

    An aerial view taken Wednesday of wildfire devastation in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles.Bloomberg News Public finance credits in Southern California are beginning to feel the heat from the massive wildfires that have destroyed parts of the city and county of Los Angeles. The city’s AA-rated general obligation bonds were placed on CreditWatch…

  • Louisiana, with bond plans, will seek Fitch upgrade

    Louisiana State Treasurer John Fleming said he would lobby Fitch Ratings for a rating upgrade.Bloomberg News Louisiana plans to sell bonds four more times this fiscal year and at least twice more in the next fiscal year, a Louisiana state official said Thursday. Amounts were not discussed and were not immediately available. The state will…

  • Muni yields fall, but underperform UST rally following CPI report

    &lt;img src=”https://public.flourish.studio/visualisation/21179756/thumbnail” width=”100%” alt=”chart visualization” /&gt; Municipals improved Wednesday amid a large new-issue slate, though underperformed a U.S. Treasury rally, after the consumer price index showed a slowdown in inflation. The CPI came in below expectations, while the core CPI, which strips out the more volatile costs of food and energy, was softer than expected.…

  • Chicago panel split on road ahead in 2025

    Dr. Bob Froehlich, John Rogers, Jr. and Diane Swonk took the stage at the Executives’ Club of Chicago’s Annual Economic Outlook panel Tuesday.Executives’ Club of Chicago The Fed may have two more rate cuts in store this year, there is a floor forming under the Treasury bond market, a short recession is a possibility, and…

  • Amid payment disputes by tobacco giants, Ohio makes reserve draw

    As cigarette sales decline and tobacco giants lose market share to vaping upstarts, some assumptions underlying tobacco securitization bonds have been upended.Bloomberg News Less than five years after Ohio restructured the credit to avoid a default, the Buckeye Tobacco Settlement Financing Authority needed a debt service reserve draw to pay holders of its tobacco settlement…

  • Heavy primary slate prices into weaker market; L.A. trading volatility continues

    &amp;amp;amp;lt;img src=”https://public.flourish.studio/visualisation/21164578/thumbnail” width=”100%” alt=”chart visualization” /&amp;amp;amp;gt; Municipals were weaker for the third consecutive trading session amid a heavy new-issue calendar, while U.S. Treasury yields fell slightly and equities ended mixed. Several large new-issues priced into a weaker market, including San Francisco International Airport, Jacksonville Electric Authority water and sewer bonds, Miami-Dade County School Board, Dallas…

  • Oklahoma City seeks arena financing proposals amid Southwest sports stampede

    Oklahoma City is seeking financing proposals for a downtown arena to replace Paycom Center, where the National Basketball Association’s Thunder has played since 2008.Adobe Stock Oklahoma City will review proposals due this week on ways to finance a downtown arena to replace Paycom Center, the home of the National Basketball Association’s Thunder, at a cost…

  • Alfred Williams, municipal bond firm founder, dies at 89

    When Alfred H. Williams got his start in the industry, the only way to know what was in the market was the “blue list.” “Most people had their blue list delivered to their office,” said Glenn Williams, Williams’s son. “Along with the morning paper, we had a blue list on our front porch.” Williams’s dedication…

  • FAA awards $332 million in grants

    “We are using funds from the BIL to make historic investments in our nation’s airports to address a backlog of needs and accommodate growing air travel demand,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. ”These investments, some already completed and many more still underway, ensure the traveling public will have safer and more accessible and efficient airports for…

  • Daniel Wiles looks back on a wide-ranging career in municipal finance

    Daniel Wiles retired from Los Angeles County in December, but continues to serve on the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board.MSRB Daniel Wiles has lived in southern California for more than two decades, but it hasn’t altered the ingrained humility of the Minnesota native. Wiles, who retired — mostly — from a long municipal finance career at…

  • Moody’s upgrades Denver Public Schools ahead of bond sale

    East High School in Denver. Moody’s Ratings upgraded Denver Public Schools’ general obligation ratings ahead of an $806 million bond sale later this month.Adobe Stock Denver Public Schools will sell more than $800 million of bonds later this month, buoyed by a ratings boost from Moody’s Ratings, which cited the district’s strong management for the…

  • A splashy debut for First Eagle’s high-yield muni fund

    John Miller joined the boutique firm First Eagle Investments in late 2023 where launched a high-yield fund that climbed to $5 billion the first year with returns of almost 12%.First Eagle First Eagle Investment’s new high-yield municipal bond fund ballooned from scratch to more than $5 billion in its first year — and generated market-beating…

  • Another volatile UST session leads to losses ahead of $12B calendar

    &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;img src=”https://public.flourish.studio/visualisation/21116027/thumbnail” width=”100%” alt=”chart visualization” /&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt; Municipals could not ignore the sharp selloff in U.S. Treasuries Friday following the hotter-than-expected jobs report as both markets saw losses across the curve. Equities also closed with large losses as more market participants expect the data to temper Federal Reserve rate cuts.  The December jobs report took a…

  • Los Angeles fires take center stage in California budget briefing

    “The risks to the budget we are facing include stock market volatility, uncertainty around federal policy and tariffs, which could have some impact on California,” said Finance Director Joe Stephenshaw.California Department of Finance The devastating fires affecting Los Angeles took center stage Friday when California’s finance director presented Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proposed $322.2 billion budget.…

  • More mega deals on tap; mutual funds revert to inflows

    &amp;lt;img src=”https://public.flourish.studio/visualisation/21101826/thumbnail” width=”100%” alt=”chart visualization” /&amp;gt; Municipals were steady throughout most of the curve outside of small bumps on the short end while municipal bond mutual funds flipped back to inflows for the first week of the year. U.S. Treasury yields fell slightly and equities were mixed. Investors added $842.4 million to municipal bond mutual…