Bonds

Municipal analysts expect high-yield investors to welcome Tuesday’s restructuring of Puerto Rico’s central government bonds as the commonwealth begins repaying bondholders since it defaulted on its debt in 2016, marking an official end to a years-long, contentious bankruptcy process. The restructuring will affect $33.2 billion of bonds, making it the largest municipal restructuring in U.S.

Federal American Rescue Plan Act money was essential to maintaining fiscal solvency, several West Coast mayors said at a press conference after they narrowly avoided having unspent money clawed back by Congress. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi cut $15.6 billion in COVID aid from the federal omnibus budget bill approved Wednesday in order to avoid triggering

News about the “novel coronavirus” was intensifying in March 2020. The World Health Organization declared a pandemic March 11. The NBA and NHL suspended their seasons March 12 after a Utah Jazz basketball player tested positive for COVID-19. But most office workers reported to work on Friday, March 13. When they returned home, most knew

When Denver Water last year embarked on an ambitious, 15-year project to fully replace lead service lines in its system, one of the early hurdles proved to be meeting a key Internal Revenue Service test for tax-exempt financing. Before the utility could issue tax-exempt bonds for the $500 million program, which would replace both the

Municipal yields rose Friday to close out a rough week ahead of a smaller new-issue calendar and the Fed’s expected rate hike. “The yield curve has been — and will continue to be — the most important indicator we watch during Fed tightening cycles and rising rate environments,” said Wells Fargo Investment Institute Investment Strategy

Franklin Templeton hired Lloyd Nemerever to help the asset manager capitalize on growing interest from retail investors in separately managed accounts for municipal bonds. In the newly created role, Nemerever will lead portfolio management for Franklin Templeton Fixed Income’s retail municipal bond separately managed account strategies, including the construction of new portfolios customized to meet

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board’s request for information on environmental, social and governance considerations in the muni market represents a dangerous attempt by the board to bring politics into the realm of public finance and should be abandoned immediately. That’s according to Utah State Treasurer Marlo Oaks, who helped lead the coalition of officials from

Municipal yields rose up to seven basis points Thursday pushing the one-year triple-A muni to 1%, a level not seen since April 2020 during the initial COVID-led selloff. U.S. Treasuries pared back some losses near the close, but the two-year hit its highest level in over two years after inflation hit its highest in 40.

Tackling California’s housing crisis and alleviating the financial blow of rising gas prices and inflation are hot button issues as the governor’s May budget revision draws near. Gov. Gavin Newsom promised a gas tax rebate in his State of the State speech Tuesday night and unveiled a CARE Court program last week aimed at getting

Detroit’s post-Chapter 9 fiscal progress despite the COVID-19 pandemic’s revenue blows drew an upgrade from Moody’s Investors Service that moves the city two notches away from investment grade. Moody’s raised the rating Wednesday one notch to Ba2 from Ba3 and signaled by leaving a positive outlook on the rating that another upgrade could be in

Puerto Rico bankruptcy Judge Laura Taylor Swain directed the Oversight Board to take quick action to advance a new deal for the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority, after the governor killed the existing deal Tuesday. In her order on Tuesday evening, Swain rejected the requests of the Ad Hoc Group of PREPA Bondholders and yet

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board’s request for information on environmental, social and governance considerations has elicited irritation at the board’s attempt to regulate ESG matters and illustrated the challenges the board faces in trying to decide what if any steps it might take related to ESG. The comment period for the RFI ended on Tuesday

With the House poised Wednesday to follow President Biden’s action to ban Russian energy imports, a group of Democratic governors pressed Congress to suspend the federal gas tax to ease pressure on U.S. drivers. The House is set to vote as soon as Wednesday afternoon on bipartisan legislation that would ban the import of Russian

Disgruntled fans have filed a pair of lawsuits against the National Football League seeking damages for moving the San Diego Chargers to Los Angeles. The most recent complaint, filed in San Diego Superior Court in mid-February, contains allegations similar to those in a separate lawsuit filed in January. Robert Kirkbright, a five-year season ticket holder

Budget season has kicked off in New York City as the first public comments on the nearly $100 billion spending plan were heard this week. The city is in good financial shape, analysts said, thanks in part to federal aid. The City Council on Wednesday began the first of a series of public hearings that

Idaho school districts will ask voters to approve $288.4 million of bonds and tax levies during Tuesday’s election to help districts deal with enrollment growth. The state has experienced rapid population growth over the past several years that has transformed its metropolitan areas from small towns into fast-paced cities. The state’s population has grown by

A pair of high-profile public-private partnership projects will advance after winning key federal loans this week. Maryland’s Purple Line light rail project received a $1.7 billion Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act loan and the Capital Beltway Express LLC got a $1.05 billion loan. Both loans will be used in part to refinance outstanding TIFIA

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit set the hearing for a stay on the Puerto Rico Plan of Adjustment for Wednesday after several teachers’ associations filed the request. On Friday the Appeals Court gave until 5 p.m. on Sunday for the Puerto Rico Oversight Board to respond to the teachers’ request for

Municipals ended the week mixed, while the swings in U.S. Treasuries continued and equities sold off as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine escalates. Triple-A yield curves saw one to four basis point cuts while UST yields fell up to 12 basis points on the 10-year, with ratios inching closer to 100% as a result. Municipal to

The White House is rejecting Republican demands to split up its nominees to the Federal Reserve, with President Biden’s spokeswoman telling GOP lawmakers to show up and vote no on Sarah Bloom Raskin rather than further stalling consideration. “All five of our nominees, including Sarah Bloom Raskin, are well qualified for these positions and we’re