Bonds

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 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

Huntington National Bank has brought on Citi’s entire Midwest public finance banking group, with Samantha Costanzo being named head of public finance, the fourth woman to lead a municipal banking division in the industry. She will be based in Chicago. Jurl Vinegar and Rupi Jain are also joining as director of public finance and associate

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

The headwinds facing the University of Idaho’s plan to acquire the University of Phoenix got a lot stronger this week; as did obstacles toward issuing bonds to fund the $685 million purchase through U of I’s affiliated nonprofit, Four Three Education. On Tuesday, the state’s House of Representatives passed House Concurrent Resolution 26 in a

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.

New York City finance officials appeared before the City Council Monday to discuss the mayor’s fiscal 2025 preliminary budget. Testimony centered around the $109.4 billion preliminary budget that Mayor Eric Adams proposed in January, which is balanced as required by law, and includes a near-record $8.2 billion in reserves, including $1.2 billion in general reserve, $4.8 billion in the Retiree Health Benefits

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

New York City on Monday announced its selection of financial advisors for upcoming bond issuances in 2024. The Mayor’s Office of Management and Budget, the Office of the New York City Comptroller, the New York City Transitional Finance Authority, the New York City Municipal Water Finance Authority, the Hudson Yards Infrastructure Corp. and TSASC Inc.

Congress is expected to begin voting next week on the first set of fiscal 2024 budget bills – five months into the fiscal year – after the parties reached another short-term deal to avert a government shutdown Friday. The two chambers on Thursday passed a stopgap bill that extends the deadline for four spending bills,

On Thursday the Internal Revenue Service provided updated guidance on how utility companies are allowed to use securitization to recover costs through rate increases to customers.   The new regulations are denoted by the IRS as Rev. Proc. 2024-15 which updates Rev. Proc. 2005-62. The ruling expands the definition of public utility companies to include publicly owned power

Hawaii lawmakers grilled the budget director Thursday as recovery costs for the Maui wildfire are coming in double expectations, putting the budget at risk. During a hearing before the Senate Ways and Means Committee, Budget Director Luis Salaveria was asked when Gov. Josh Green’s administration realized costs to temporarily house people displaced by the fire

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

The Ohio state Senate on Wednesday passed a bill that included $1.27 billion in bonds for state government agency facilities, K-12 classrooms, local subdivisions’ capital improvement projects and conservation projects. The bill, HB 27, was originally intended only to give students more information about college fees and loan repayment. And Senate Democrats voiced reservations about

After years of soliciting market feedback, new Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board Rule G-46 on the duties of solicitor municipal advisors is in effect as of March 1, setting the stage for closer scrutiny from both municipal advisors and the Securities and Exchange Commission. Solicitor municipal advisors are a much smaller crowd than traditional municipal advisors

Municipal bond mutual funds saw small inflows, the secondary market showed constructive trading with firmer prints in spots and the asset class is likely to see slightly positive returns for the month. Equities ended in the black, with the Nasdaq leading the rally. Triple-A yields were bumped a basis point or two, depending on the

Indiana saw a tax revenue windfall in January, with general fund revenues coming in 15.8% above last January’s number and 9.3% above December’s projections. But the office of Chief Economist Hari Razafindramanana cautioned that individual income tax collections surpassed estimates only because of “unusual timing factors that are currently expected to normalize… over the coming

Puerto Rico leaders and analysts highlighted fiscal risks facing Puerto Rico’s central government, including a change in how multinationals are taxed, that could, if unresolved, jeopardize future bond payments. At the Puerto Rico Oversight Board meeting Wednesday, board Executive Director Robert Mujica Jr. said the government faced major risks in the coming fiscal years, including

Norton Rose Fulbright hired public finance lawyers Alison Radecki as a partner and Helen Pennock as a senior counsel. Both will work in the firm’s New York City office and formerly worked at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe. They are licensed to practice in New York. Radecki has more than two decades of experience helping issuers