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The Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority was upgraded to AA-plus from AA by Fitch Ratings Wednesday. The ratings affect MARTA’s sales tax revenue bonds rated by Fitch and its issuer default rating and carry a stable outlook. As of March 25, the authority had $2.02 billion in sales tax revenue bonds outstanding, according to Kroll

Municipal bonds improved Wednesday as attention turned to the primary market with Chicago coming off the sidelines to price its delayed general obligation bond deal along with deals from the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority, the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission and the Las Vegas Valley Water Department. U.S. Treasuries and equities closed the session mixed following

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority has fined Morgan Stanley $24,000 for failing to disclose mark-ups and mark-downs on 19,000 municipal securities transactions, part of a $400,000 total penalty the latest in a string of recent actions FINRA has taken to prosecute mark-up disclosure failures. Morgan Stanley, which neither admitted nor denied FINRA’s findings, also failed

Municipal yields fell Tuesday as the primary kicked into gear, while munis underperformed an improved U.S. Treasury market as equities rallied after inflation data came in softer than expected. Triple-A municipal curves saw bumps of two to four basis points with the better performance on the short end while Treasuries improved by four to eight

The Financial Data Transparency Act (FDTA) passed by Congress in December 2022 mandated the use of a common, non-proprietary legal entity identifier for municipal issuers. Although Congress’ legislative intent continues to be a matter of debate, we argue that any implementation of this new mandate will have to satisfy a basic market need: the correct

Hawaiian Electric Industries Inc. pegged losses from estimated accrual of liabilities stemming from one of the worst wildfires in US history at $1.7 billion and issued a going-concern warning.  Hawaiian Electric said Aug. 2 that it had agreed to pay almost $2 billion as part of a $4 billion settlement to resolve hundreds of lawsuits

California Republican Rep. Mike Garcia last week unveiled a bill that would block federal funds for the state’s controversial high-speed rail project. “After 15 years and billions of your hard-earned tax dollars spent, California’s high-speed rail has delivered zero results,” said Garcia in a statement announcing H.R. 9308, the No Frankenrail Act. “This so-called high-speed rail

BayCare Health System, Florida, plans to price $1.3 billion in bonds the week of August 19 through the Hillsborough County Industrial Development Authority. The authority approved the bonds earlier this month. Bond proceeds will reimburse BayCare for prior capital expenditures, fund future capital projects and pay for capitalized interest and costs of issuance. The authority

California and Oregon are experiencing yet another record-setting year of wildfires. The still-raging Park Fire in northern California, the largest of 12 active fires, has consumed more than 426,000 acres, and is the state’s fourth-largest fire in the past two decades. More than two weeks after an arsonist started the conflagration, it is only 34%