Bonds

After wrapping up his final deal, Wisconsin Capital Finance Director David Erdman is packing up an office filled with three decades of paperwork as his tenure with the state winds down and he makes the leap to the private sector at Baker & Tilly Municipal Advisors LLC. There’s also a “retirement” party to attend Thursday

Six months into the roll out of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, inflation, coupled with chronically high cost of building U.S. transportation projects, is proving to be the biggest challenge. And the longer it takes to spend the money, the more cost pressures threaten to swallow the once-in-a-generation level of funding. “Externally our biggest

Constructive secondary trading and an active primary pushed triple-A muni yields lower on the back of a U.S. Treasury flight-to-safety rally after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell acknowledged for the first time that it was “certainly a possibility” the U.S. economy may face a recession as the Fed continues to contend with inflation. “Inflation has

Democratic senators led by Bob Menendez urged the Federal Reserve to take a more active role in the selection process of the heads of its regional banks so that more diverse candidates would be considered.  In a letter to Fed Chair Jerome Powell, who will appear before Congress Wednesday and Thursday as part of legally

Moody’s Investors Service boosted Denver International Airport’s bond ratings a notch ahead of a $1.84 billion sale for its current capital plan. The senior revenue bond rating was raised to Aa3 from A1 and the rating on subordinate revenue bonds was upgraded to A1 from A2, affecting about $5.2 billion of outstanding debt.  “The ratings

The municipal bonds that helped finance the nation’s second largest mall are showing signs of wobbling. The American Dream mall in East Rutherford, New Jersey, was delayed for years, then opened shortly before the COVID-19 pandemic. On June 3, the trustee for $800 million of bonds said in a notice posted on the Municipal Securities

The former chief administrative officer of Johnson City, Texas falsified financial statements and misled investors in an attempt to hide his ongoing embezzlement of city funds, the Securities and Exchange Commission alleged Thursday. Michael Anthony Holland, who was also Johnson City’s secretary, stole $1.12 million from the city between 2015 and 2020, using the money

The team developing John F. Kennedy International Airport’s flagship new terminal will tap the municipal bond market for more than $6 billion through 2026, with more debt on the horizon for future phases of the high-profile project.   The New Terminal One private consortium overseeing the $9.5 billion development closed June 10 on a $6.63

Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City President Esther George said she opposed the Fed’s biggest interest-rate increase in almost three decades because the move, combined with the shrinking of the central bank’s balance sheet, created uncertainty about the outlook. “The speed with which we adjust the policy rate is important,” George said in a statement

The Federal Reserve said it would do what is needed to get prices under control, reiterating that price stability is necessary to support a strong labor market and calling its commitment to reining in inflation “unconditional.” “The committee is acutely aware that high inflation imposes significant hardship, especially on those least able to meet the

Texas is getting closer to producing a list of financial companies that it deems to be boycotting energy businesses — a move that could further diminish the number of big banks eligible to underwrite municipal bonds in the state. The looming list and a law barring banks that “discriminate” against the firearm industry from deals

The acquisition of Cancer Treatment Centers of America and financial weaknesses over the past two years have resulted in City of Hope, the Los Angeles region’s world-renowned research and cancer treatment center, receiving a one-notch downgrade to A2 by Moody’s Investors Service. The downgrade to A2 from A1 affects $2 billion in long-term debt issued

Municipals were little changed Friday after being swept along in a selling rampage at the start of the week, while U.S. Treasuries were weaker and equities were in the black. Muni-to-UST ratios rose, with the 30-year topping 100% for the first time since late May. Ratios were at 71% in five years, 90% in 10

Eleven U.S. sites were chosen Thursday to host some of World Cup soccer matches in 2026, an event that could add millions of dollars to a municipality’s coffers. FIFA, the governing body of international soccer, said Miami-Dade County, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Boston and the New York-New Jersey area were among the 11 U.S. locations chosen to

Municipals were little changed on the day while other markets continued to react to the Fed rate hike as U.S. Treasuries were stronger and equities sold off. Refinitiv Lipper reported $5.6 billion of outflows, the highest figure of outflows in 2022, as Monday’s massive selloff contributed to more losses for municipals. That figure is up

Municipals took a backseat as the Federal Open Market Committee announced its decision to implement a three-quarter point rate hike while U.S. Treasuries rallied into late afternoon following the news. Equities rallied. The move, prompted partly by hotter-than-expected inflation data Friday, is the largest rate hike since 1994. “Investors appear encouraged that the FOMC is

Puerto Rico Gov. Pedro Pierluisi on Tuesday ordered a 45-day moratorium on a diesel and gasoline tax, which could trim $25 million that would normally go to the general fund. “With this measure we seek to relieve the people and the economic impact on our families due to the increase in fuel prices as a

Municipals were weaker amid larger losses in U.S. Treasuries while equities ended mixed as markets were quieter ahead of the FOMC rate-hike decision Wednesday. Triple-A benchmark yields were cut five to eight basis points, depending on the scale, while USTs rose six to 11 basis points. Muni-to-UST ratios were at 66% in five years, 84%

The Securities and Exchange Commission has charged the City of Rochester, New York, the Rochester City School District’s former finance director and the city’s former chief financial officer with misleading investors and providing outdated financial statements in connection with a $119 million bond offering in 2019. The Commission also charged municipal advisory firm Capital Markets

Following a spate of cyberattacks against local government institutions in New Jersey this year, Democratic Assemblymember Shama Haider introduced legislation on May 16 to strengthen the state’s local capabilities.  Less than a month later, her own hometown of Tenafly faced a cyberattack after teachers accidentally discovered a ransomware attack in progress last week while working