Bonds

Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority bond parties that oppose the Oversight Board’s proposed debt deal filed suits challenging part of the deal, asked for compensation for Puerto Rico central government’s actions since March 2022 and proposed an alternate bond deal. The parties filed the suits this weekend in the U.S. District Court for Puerto Rico

Moody’s Investors Service revised its rating outlook for the Aaa-rated District of Columbia to negative Monday, matching its Friday action on the United States government. At the same time, the rating agency affirmed the Aaa issuer ratings and stable outlooks of Florida, Maryland and Virginia. The actions follow Friday’s outlook revision on the United States

Tender option bond volume is growing and is expected to reach a 10-year high this year, according to Municipal Market Analytics. About $17 billion of TOBs have been issued so far in 2023, which is on pace to eclipse last year’s $17.6 billion, MMA said. The outstanding TOB market is at about $50 billion from

As the timeline for implementing the Financial Data Transparency Act grows shorter, the Securities and Exchange Commission is teaming up with other federal regulators in an attempt to allay fears about implementation.   “There’s no new disclosure requirements, standards or timelines, it’s just about structured data,” said Dave Sanchez, director of the SEC’s Office of Municipal

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp has extended the suspension of his state’s gasoline tax for another month amid sustained high fuel costs. Kemp cited “ongoing economic hardships caused by rampant inflation” Wednesday when he signed an executive order foregoing Georgia’s 31.2 cents-per-gallon tax on gas and 35 cents-per-gallon tax on diesel for another month through Nov.

Anyone who thinks they understand what is happening in the economy — and what will happen — should think some more. The post-pandemic state of the economy is somewhat of a mystery, but a mystery worth exploring. Unemployment is a low 3.9%. Inflation is somewhere between 3.5% and 4.2% depending on which index is used.

Puerto Rico’s upcoming gubernatorial and legislative elections may lead to a new governor but aren’t likely to change local policy significantly, observers say. At this stage, the main drama seems to be in the New Progressive Party governor’s primary, which sees Puerto Rico Resident Commissioner Jenniffer González Colón running against Gov. Pedro Pierluisi. As Resident

Municipals were little changed to close out a busy week in both the primary and secondary, while U.S. Treasury yields fell out long and equities rallied. “Although this round of muni market bullish reversal was pulled off one week later than Treasuries’, the rally progressed better,” said BofA strategists. The 10-year UST reached its peak

Voters in Maine rejected a much-debated proposal to replace the state’s two largest power providers with a public utility company in Tuesday’s election. Question 3 on the ballot, which asked voters to approve the state takeover of for-profit power providers Versant and Central Maine Power Company and the creation of a non-profit, publicly owned utility

Municipals were mixed Thursday, largely sitting out another swing to higher yields in U.S. Treasuries after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said the central bank would not hesitate to hike interest rates further if needed. Equities sold off. Triple-A yields barely budged while USTs saw yields rise by 10 to 14 basis points following a

Municipals strengthened Wednesday for the sixth consecutive session while U.S. Treasury yields fell throughout most of the curve with the largest gains seen out long. Equities ended mixed. Triple-A yield curves were bumped four to nine basis points, depending on the curve, while USTs saw some weakness on the front end while yields fell up

In a troubled world, booming demand for American military weaponry has left the country in need of billions of dollars more in armaments than it can currently produce.  West Virginia is trying to meet that need. Though its footprint in the national defense sector is small, representing just .1% of the $558.7 billion in defense contracts

Miami International Airport leads the nation’s airports in recovering passenger traffic lost during the COVD-19 pandemic, according to a report. “We looked at the total passenger recovery levels for 10 of the largest muni market borrowers in the U.S. airport sector and found half have surpassed 2019 levels while the other half remains below pre-pandemic

Several large new-issues priced into a stronger market with munis seeing gains across the yield curve amid constructive secondary activity as U.S. Treasuries pared back some of Mondays losses and equities also improved. Triple-A yields fell three to five basis points while USTs made gains up to eight basis points out long. The two-year muni-to-Treasury

Munis were slightly firmer in light secondary trading to start the week, while U.S. Treasuries were weaker and equities ended the trading session up. The two-year muni-to-Treasury ratio Monday was at 69%, the three-year at 69%, the five-year at 70%, the 10-year at 71% and the 30-year at 90%, according to Refinitiv Municipal Market Data’s

Voters in Rhode Island’ will face several local ballot questions Tuesday, mostly for for local school bonds. Rhode Island is in the midst of a state-backed overhaul of its educational facilities, many of which are deemed to be outdated and in need of replacement or renovation, and local officials hoping to tap a state reimbursement

While municipal bond issuance has dropped precipitously the past two years amid volatile markets, environmental, social and governance debt has steadily grown despite issuer hesitation to designate it as such and an ever-more acrimonious political environment emerges over it. ESG issuance for the first three quarters of 2023 was at $27.970 billion, potentially on pace

States would suffer deep cuts in water infrastructure funding they receive through state revolving funds, which make up a significant corner of the municipal bond market, under a bill passed Friday by the U.S. House of Representatives. The fiscal 2024 Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies appropriations measure, House Bill 4821, totals $37.4

Washington is banking on its high credit ratings and strong demand on previous sales as it heads to market Tuesday with a $483 million competitive refunding.  The bonds will be auctioned in two series: $296.550 million various purpose general obligation refunding bonds, Series R-2024A and $186.225 million motor vehicle fuel tax and vehicle-related fees GO

The notion of channeling federal dollars devoted to infrastructure improvement into affordable housing including office conversions located near mass transit is picking up steam. Quantifying the possibilities and costs offered by the concept remains elusive but recent research is revealing new possibilities.  “We end up concluding something on the order of 10% of the existing