Florida’s ports will be getting $250 million in state and federal funds to help speed their economic recovery from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, Gov. Ron DeSantis said Thursday. The money is coming in through the federal American Rescue Plan President Biden signed in March and its Coronavirus State Fiscal Recovery Fund. It is
Bonds
A Michigan Supreme Court order paves the way for Detroit voters to decide the fate of charter revisions opposed by Mayor Mike Duggan, who warns they threaten the city’s fiscal independence. The state’s high court, in a split decision published Thursday, reversed Wayne County Circuit Court and Court of Appeals decisions removing Proposal P from
Puerto Rico net General Fund revenues came in 3.1% ahead of projections in May. The Puerto Rico Department of the Treasury said through the first 11 months of fiscal 2020-2021, net revenues were ahead by 1.14%, at $10.2 billion. The Treasury Department’s actual figures are compared to the Puerto Rico Oversight Board’s projections. In May
Issuance in July fell more than 30% short of 2020 figures but is roughly 13% above the month’s 10-year average, while total issuance for the year-to-date is ahead of last year’s record-breaking pace by a small margin. At $31.9 billion, municipal bond volume was 33.1% lower this month than July 2020 when it totaled a
Triple-A benchmarks were little changed on Friday while U.S. Treasuries ended the week stronger amid mixed economic data. Muni participants await a new month with growing issuance, but perhaps not quite enough as issuers are hesitant to add more debt before final word from Washington on infrastructure. The net negative supply likely will keep interest
As climate change accelerates, electric grids are expected to experience severe weather events that are well beyond the historical conditions for which they were built. In this session, moderator Donald J. Gonzales, senior managing director of the San Antonio office of Estrada Hinojosa & Co., Inc. is joined by panelists Chris Jumper, director of Assured;
The Federal Reserve has toyed for years with opening something called a standing repo facility to prevent short-term rates markets from blowing up. Following a 2019 disruption and another early in the pandemic, the central bank finally took that step. The permanent repurchase-agreement facility, one for domestic firms and another for foreign ones, will backstop
Municipals were a touch weaker outside of 15 years Wednesday as U.S. Treasury yields rose after the Federal Open Market Committee minutes were released but pared back losses as the afternoon progressed and were back at Tuesday’s levels near the close. The tapering conversation continues, but Federal Reserve Board Chair Jerome Powell said the FOMC
Municipals were slightly firmer in secondary trading while new-issues were repriced to lower yields from initial pricing wires. U.S. Treasuries were stronger and equities sold off ahead of the FOMC meeting Wednesday. The current market technicals combined with a slowdown in issuance is creating a general malaise in the municipal market, according to a New
The Puerto Rico Oversight Board reached a deal for an improved treatment of the Puerto Rico Infrastructure and Finance Authority rum tax bonds with two bond insurers, which had been key opponents of the central government debt deal. The board announced the deal with Ambac Assurance and Financial Guaranty Insurance Company Tuesday morning in a
Municipals were stronger on the short end, hitting record low levels for the second time this year, in quiet trading while U.S. Treasuries were treading water and equities did much the same as all markets await Wednesday’s Federal Open Market Committee meeting announcement. Triple-A benchmarks moved one to two basis points lower inside of five
The Puerto Rico Oversight Board cast doubt Friday on a temporary deal between the truckers and the interim governor which is pausing the truckers’ strike. Around 9:30 p.m. Thursday Gov. Pedro Pierluisi announced the temporary deal in two tweets. The deal was with the striking truckers’ union, Frente Amplio de Camioneros. Pierluisi was off the
Akron, Ohio-based FirstEnergy Corp. agreed to pay $230 million to resolve federal charges in connection with an alleged bribery scheme involving a $1 billion public bailout for two nuclear power plants owned by a bankrupt subsidiary with municipal debt. Federal authorities charged the public utility holding company with conspiring to commit honest services wire fraud.
What bond-market guru Mohammed El-Erian said Friday was enough to make bond investors listen like they’re in an old E.F. Hutton commercial. “Inflation is not going to be transitory,” the chief economic adviser at Allianz SE said in an interview on Bloomberg TV. El-Erian likened it to his belief in 1999 that Argentina would default,
The Puerto Rico Aqueduct and Sewer Authority plans to refund $1.8 billion of outstanding 2012 debt in an August deal, coming into a market that is starved for high-yield paper. For several months the authority and the Puerto Rico Oversight Board has mentioned the possibility of refunding the authority’s Series 2012A bonds. On Friday it
Municipals were steady in typical summer Friday style ahead of a less-than-robust new-issue calendar to end July. The U.S. Treasury 10-year ends 10 basis points higher than it started the week, but back to levels of a week ago, while the stock market rallied and earnings pushed them to all-time record highs Friday. Triple-A benchmarks
Analysts say a strike of Puerto Rico truckers is a threat to the island’s economy and a challenge for the Oversight Board. The board spent a page in the most recent fiscal plan talking about the need to not extend the minimum rates to privately negotiated trucking contracts. The truckers are striking for this as
The top bond counsel firms combined for a total of $220.03 billion in 6,077 transactions in the first half of 2021, up from the $191.51 billion in 5,124 deals in the first half of 2020. Only one firm remained in the same spot they were at this point last year, the rest of the rankings
Municipal yields rose a slightly outside of 10-years after U.S. Treasuries swung back up double-digit basis points from Monday’s lows as stocks rebounded from large losses on Monday. Municipals ignored the losses in UST as triple-A benchmark curves saw cuts of two to four basis points out longer while the short end of the curve
eMerge Americas, a venture-backed platform focused on changing Miami into the tech hub of the Americas, closed a round of investment led by Florida Funders, the firm announced on Tuesday. Florida Funders is a a venture capital fund and an angel investor network, and its investment in eMerge Americas is aimed at helping Miami’s tech