Bonds

Municipal bond issuers in the Midwest sold a bit more debt in the first half of 2024 than they did a year earlier, but the region largely missed out on big gains in bond volume nationwide. Midwest bond sale volume rose to $34.377 billion from $33.78 billion, according to data from LSEG, a 1.8% increase.

Federal Reserve Board Chair Jerome Powell’s much-anticipated speech at the Jackson Hole symposium should offer clues about the Fed’s thinking ahead of its September meeting, but with limits. “Fed watchers will be parsing Powell’s comments for signs that a 50bp rate cut is on the table for September,” noted Lauren Saidel-Baker, an economist with ITR

The National Association of Bond Lawyers will award Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger, D-Md., the Bernard P. Friel Medal and David Cholst the Federick O. Kiel Distinguished Service Award for their individual contributions to NABL and to the industry over the last four decades. Those will be given out during NABL’s The Workshop 2024, held in Chicago

Although charter school bonds seem to naturally lend themselves to a social label, there are inherent risks to taking that step. “One of the biggest questions that often come up is, what are the qualification requirements of being a social bond?” said Ryan Callender, partner, Squire Patton Boggs. “Unfortunately, there’s really no one answer to

Colleges and universities face an estimated $750 billion to $950 billion in spending over the next decade for deferred maintenance, facility upgrades, and construction projects, with the growing backlog of capital needs posing “a significant credit risk” for the higher education sector, according to Moody’s Ratings.  The rating agency said underinvestment in capital assets has

Municipals were mixed in secondary trading, as $1.8 billion of GOs from New York City came to market in two series, as U.S. Treasury yields fell and equities ended up. Several Federal Open Market Committee members saw a case to cut interest rates by 25 basis points in July, according to minutes of the July

Hall of Fame inductees will be honored at an awards dinner at the close of The Bond Buyer’s INFRASTRUCTURE conference, which takes place September 17–18, 2024, at the Philadelphia Marriott Downtown. Scroll through to meet the Class of 2024. Full bios of each honoree will be posted over the next few weeks, in advance of

Southeast municipal bond issuance bounced back in the first half of 2024, with dollar volume rising 42.4% from the first half of 2023. This followed a 29.9% decline in the first half of 2023 compared to the first half of 2022. The Southeast bond volume increase in first half of 2024 from the first half

The Bond Buyer announces its third annual class of inductees into its Hall of Fame of municipal finance, which recognizes and celebrates groundbreaking individuals who have left an indelible legacy on the muni community and the people and places it represents. The new class of groundbreaking Hall of Famers gives representation to a range of

Although some advisors today may foresee themselves never recommending crypto investments, the last thing they should want is to look like “a deer in headlights” should a client ask about digital assets. So said Don Friedman, president of the professional group Digital Assets Council of Financial Professionals, on the first day of Financial Planning’s INVEST:

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board has announced the members of its fiscal year 2023 Compliance Advisory Group, the sixth consecutive year that members of the municipal market will be volunteering to provide compliance clarification and assistance for the board’s group. “The Compliance Advisory Group plays a critical role in providing MSRB staff with valuable insight

Pennsylvania is coming to market Tuesday with what’s considered the largest private activity bonds surface transportation allocation to date as part of a high-profile public private program to rebuild bridges across the commonwealth. The $1.88 billion of tax-exempt PABs will finance the first, and largest, phase of the Major Bridges P3 Initiative. The state is

A central valley California not-for-profit hospital had $218 million of revenue bonds downgraded to junk by Moody’s Investors Service after a really bad third quarter. Kaweah Delta Health Care District had its revenue bond rating downgraded to Ba1 from A3; and the district’s overall rating has been placed under review for downgrade, Moody’s said. The

Municipals were weaker on the short end Friday ahead of a smaller new-issue calendar made up largely of a Pennsylvania public-private partnership deal. U.S. Treasuries saw losses along the curve and equities ended the week in the red as markets digested more mixed economic data ahead of the Federal Open Market Committee meeting next week

New York state is expected to issue three downstate casino licenses in the first half of 2023, with the facilities operating two years after, bringing a financial boon to the state and the winners. Already, the state has seen more than $500 million of revenue through early November from online gambling, which made its debut

Two influential members of the Senate Banking Committee introduced legislation Friday that would subject the Federal Reserve System to greater transparency requirements. The bill from Sens. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., and Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., would classify the Fed’s 12 regional reserve banks as federal agencies under the Freedom of Information Act and the Federal Records Act. 

Martin Arrick, a longtime healthcare analyst, has been hired by Build America Mutual to head a program to increase coverage and analytical capability for insuring nonprofit hospital systems. Arrick was formerly a managing director and healthcare group leader for S&P Global Ratings. He retired in early 2020, one month before the pandemic, after having been

Municipals were little changed in secondary trading while the return of mutual fund inflows led by high-yield and a $770 million notes deal from the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority took focus. U.S. Treasuries were weaker and equities ended in the black. The three-year muni-UST ratio was at 60%, the five-year at 67%, the 10-year

Broker-dealers concerned about increasingly complex compliance issues may benefit from a new strategic alliance formed between the Bond Dealers of America and the Regional Fixed Income Best Practices Group, which was formerly known as the Regional Municipal Operations Association.  “The RFIBPG is now a division of the BDA, similar to the BDA’s Bond Pricing Institute,”

What are the obstacles and opportunities surrounding ESG? How will inflation and labor shortages impact the IIJA? What does new tech, crypto and AI mean for electronic trading? The municipal finance community has a lot of questions going into 2023. Don’t miss the chance to get them answered at NATIONAL OUTLOOK on February 2, 2023.