Bonds

Fiscal 2024 transportation funding would remain essentially flat to the previous year under a bipartisan spending bill unveiled Sunday, with a few cuts to grant programs that President Joe Biden had hoped to fund. The full six-bill “minibus” totals $465 billion, and if passed by Friday would fund the federal agencies through the remainder of

The Ohio state Senate on Wednesday passed a bill that included $1.27 billion in bonds for state government agency facilities, K-12 classrooms, local subdivisions’ capital improvement projects and conservation projects. The bill, HB 27, was originally intended only to give students more information about college fees and loan repayment. And Senate Democrats voiced reservations about

Municipals were little changed to end the week ahead of an estimated $6.1 billion new-issue calendar. U.S. Treasuries were firmer, and equities ended up. Muni yields were steady throughout the week, ignoring small but “well-behaved” UST movements, which stayed “in a relatively narrow range despite some important data releases,” according to Barclays PLC strategists Mikhail

On Thursday the Internal Revenue Service provided updated guidance on how utility companies are allowed to use securitization to recover costs through rate increases to customers.   The new regulations are denoted by the IRS as Rev. Proc. 2024-15 which updates Rev. Proc. 2005-62. The ruling expands the definition of public utility companies to include publicly owned power

Hawaii lawmakers grilled the budget director Thursday as recovery costs for the Maui wildfire are coming in double expectations, putting the budget at risk. During a hearing before the Senate Ways and Means Committee, Budget Director Luis Salaveria was asked when Gov. Josh Green’s administration realized costs to temporarily house people displaced by the fire

Congress is expected to begin voting next week on the first set of fiscal 2024 budget bills – five months into the fiscal year – after the parties reached another short-term deal to avert a government shutdown Friday. The two chambers on Thursday passed a stopgap bill that extends the deadline for four spending bills,

After years of soliciting market feedback, new Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board Rule G-46 on the duties of solicitor municipal advisors is in effect as of March 1, setting the stage for closer scrutiny from both municipal advisors and the Securities and Exchange Commission. Solicitor municipal advisors are a much smaller crowd than traditional municipal advisors

Municipal bond mutual funds saw small inflows, the secondary market showed constructive trading with firmer prints in spots and the asset class is likely to see slightly positive returns for the month. Equities ended in the black, with the Nasdaq leading the rally. Triple-A yields were bumped a basis point or two, depending on the

The Biden administration Thursday sent out nearly $10 billion in public transit funding to fulfill the first five months of fiscal 2024 appropriations despite the lack of a full-year spending plan from Congress. The partial-year funding — from last October through March 1 — keeps spending flat at fiscal 2023 levels while the government operates

Puerto Rico leaders and analysts highlighted fiscal risks facing Puerto Rico’s central government, including a change in how multinationals are taxed, that could, if unresolved, jeopardize future bond payments. At the Puerto Rico Oversight Board meeting Wednesday, board Executive Director Robert Mujica Jr. said the government faced major risks in the coming fiscal years, including

Legal challenges to New York City’s congestion pricing plan threaten to delay much-needed repairs to the city’s century-old transit system, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority said.  The authority on Monday cautioned that repairs on elevated rail lines, upgrades on substations to keep power running and maintaining shop and yard facilities — all deemed state-of-good-repair work —

Municipals were steady in secondary trading Tuesday as several large deals in the primary market took focus, including the retail pricing for the $1.5 billion-plus deal of general obligation bonds from New York City. U.S. Treasury yields rose 10 years and out and equities were mixed near the end of the trading session. Other large

Broker dealers are divided over whether small firms should be dealt more relaxed regulation and compliance standards, or be subject to uniform standards that treat large Wall Street banks and single person firms the same in the eyes of the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board. The dueling sentiments came through in response to the MSRB’s request

Municipals were steady to start the week as investors await the larger new-issue slate, outperforming U.S. Treasuries, while equities were mixed near the close. The two-year muni-to-Treasury ratio Monday was at 58%, the three-year at 57%, the five-year at 56%, the 10-year at 57% and the 30-year at 81%, according to Refinitiv Municipal Market Data’s

Municipal bond analysts should expect increased uncertainty as they work to assess the impact of pensions and other postemployment benefits on credit quality in 2024.  Pension risk — the possibility that pension and other postemployment benefit costs can rise to such a degree as to impair a bond issuer’s ability to pay its debts —

The story stays the same and that is munis remain rich but an uptick in supply will bring some pressure to the asset class. The steadiness of the muni market, despite the swings in USTs, shows both the trepidation of investor commitment at these levels and the underlying strength of the credit quality of the

Not-for-profit healthcare finances should improve this year, rating agencies said, and many healthcare issuers plan to test the bond market. The sector reached a “turning point” in calendar year 2023, Fitch Ratings said in a report released Wednesday. The latest perspective offers a shift from challenges and expectations analysts predicted as recently as January. Analysts

Louisiana is set to float $1.34 billion of private activity bonds in April as part of its largest public-private partnership to date, which will replace an aging bridge over Interstate 10 near St. Charles. The Louisiana Public Facilities Authority released details of the financing after the State Bond Commission last week signed off on the

Alabama airports would be able to enter into public-private partnerships under a bill that advanced through the state House this week. House Bill 87 passed the House Tuesday less than three weeks since it was introduced by Republican state Rep. Chip Brown. It is now pending at the Senate Transportation and Energy Committee. “Alabama is

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is partnering with other federal regulators to lessen fears regarding the implementation of the Financial Data Transparency Act. The goal of this new law, which was passed in 2022, is to provide more transparency to the financial markets by introducing machine-readable formats into the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board’s EMMA