Bonds

Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City President Esther George said the U.S. central bank should raise its benchmark interest rate above 5% and hold it there well into 2024 to bring inflation down. “I have raised my forecast over 5%,” George said Thursday in an interview on CNBC television, referring to her projection for the

Munis rallied Wednesday as outflows lessened and U.S. Treasury yields fell in lockstep even as minutes from the Federal Open Market Committee meeting showed participants agreeing rate cuts are not expected in 2023. Equities ended up. Triple-A benchmark yields were bumped four to 15 basis points, depending on the curve, while U.S. Treasury yields fell

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board is now accepting applications for four positions on its board of directors for the 2024 fiscal year and will be accepting applications until Feb. 6. The board will elect two public members and hopes that one of them will be an investor in municipal securities, either institutional or retail. The

Passenger counts at the three Port Authority of New York and New Jersey airports were higher in November than in November 2019, marking the first month they beat a pre-pandemic comparison. Air travel was up 2% when compared to the same time period in 2019, as Newark Liberty International Airport, John F. Kennedy International Airport,

Most analysts are willing to commit to a slowdown in inflation in 2023, but a recession remains a trickier call.  “I think the bond market is right, a recession is coming,” said Liz Young, head of investment strategy at SoFi, “and the economic indicators reinforce that message.” The debate over the likelihood of a recession

Republicans are set to challenge a controversial Federal Highway Administration memo outlining how states should spend their IIJA money after the Government Accountability Office ruled that the memo ventures into the realm of policy-making and is thus subject to Congressional review. Penned by former acting FHWA administrator, and current deputy director, Stephanie Pollack, the memo

The Army Corps of Engineers approved a wetlands work permit for the land in Georgia where electric vehicle maker Rivian plans a 16-million-foot battery and vehicle production plant. Over the last few months, the Corps and federal and state environmental agencies led a review of Rivian’s plans for a factory on 2000 acres of rural

Municipals were weaker in spots Thursday as outflows from mutual funds lessened. U.S. Treasuries were firmer five years and out and equities rallied. The three-year muni-UST ratio was at 60%, the five-year at 64%, the 10-year at 68% and the 30-year at 91%, according to Refinitiv MMD’s 3 p.m. read. ICE Data Services had the

The municipal bond market shrank, retail continues to access it, and broker-dealer holdings have grown, the latest Federal Reserve data show. Fed data show the outstanding universe of munis shrinking in the third quarter in terms of both par basis and market value, said Matt Fabian, a partner at Municipal Market Analytics. The value of

The Brent Spence Bridge Corridor Project has been awarded $1.6 billion in federal funding grants, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear and Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine announced Thursday. The approval of the funds will let the improvement project move into the construction phase in 2023. Kentucky and Ohio were seeking the grants under the Infrastructure Investment and

The Securities and Exchange Commission’s Public Finance Abuse Unit’s recent and relatively novel pursuit of firms accused of violating the limited offering exemption has securities lawyers expecting more focus on that area in the coming year, even likening it to one of the most significant muni enforcement initiatives of the past decade. In September, the

The U.S. Virgin Islands would privatize its only two airports under a process launched Thursday that would mark the second long-term lease for a U.S.-based airport asset. The Virgin Islands Port Authority Thursday released an RFQ outlining a relatively fast-paced process that aims to select a final team by the end of 2023 with groundbreaking

Against the backdrop of a persistent drought, Arizona made an initial move toward the possibility of piping desalinated water from the Gulf of California in Mexico to the land-locked state’s growing population. The Arizona Water Infrastructure Finance Authority approved a resolution Dec. 20 allowing the agency to evaluate a proposal from Israel-based IDE Technologies that envisions

Municipals finished out the last trading day of the year little changed in an abbreviated session that saw Treasury yields rise and equity prices fall. “Bond investors bid a not-so-fond farewell to 2022 as they look forward to a much more attractive 2023,” said Bryce Doty, senior vice president at Sit Investment Associates. The markets

Total 2022 municipal bond sale volume plunged 21% from 2021, as issuers were flush with cash and rising interest rates stymied refundings and taxable issuances. December municipal bond issuance, at $17.165 billion, also disappointed, dropping 58.1% from the same period a year earlier. The muni market saw $384.086 billion of debt issued in 2022, nearly

Massachusetts plans to bring $2.7 billion of taxable business-tax backed special obligation revenue bonds with a social designation, marking the largest environmental, social and governance deal to date in the municipal market. The deal is also one of the larger taxable deals in 2022 in a year that has seen a significant drop in taxable

Los Angeles International Airport received a $50 million grant from the federal infrastructure bill for terminal road improvements, among the largest dispersed from the $1 billion allocated to 85 airports nationally. The grants are the first allotment in a five-year, $5 billion airport terminal grant program funded by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, Transportation

The Supreme Court decision in Carson v. Makin may render unconstitutional issuer statutes that prohibit the use of bond proceeds for religious purposes. The court ruled last month that if a state chooses to subsidize private education, it cannot disqualify some private schools solely because of religious affiliation. The ruling could change the way some

Municipals were mixed to close out a quiet summer Friday session ahead of a larger new-issue calendar that sees several billion-dollar deals. Triple-A benchmark yields once again largely ignored a selloff in U.S. Treasuries after a robust jobs report indicated the Federal Reserve will likely hike interest rates another 75 basis points at its next

Puerto Rico’s economic activity index increased 0.5% in May from April and 3.3% from May 2021. , according to data released from the Economic Development Bank for Puerto Rico Thursday. Over the last six months the index has gone up four times from month to month, stayed the same once, and gone down once.  May was