Bonds

Municipals improved again Thursday pushing the 10-year triple-A yield firmly below 3% while inflows into municipal bond mutual funds returned after 14 consecutive weeks of outflows. U.S. Treasuries saw losses and equities ended down after Federal Reserve officials tempered expectations of a slowdown in rate hikes. Triple-A yields fell by three to six basis points,

Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President James Bullard urged policymakers to raise interest rates further, saying the level will need to be higher to meet the central bank’s goal to be “sufficiently restrictive” to bring down inflation. “Even under these generous assumptions, the policy rate is not yet in a zone that may be

Municipals rallied across the yield curve Wednesday, outperforming U.S. Treasuries and seeing the greatest gains out long after stronger retail sales data signaled the Fed’s tightening is not yet over, pushing equities into the red. Retail sales increased 1.3% in October, slightly above the consensus forecast of 1.0% and a significant improvement from the flat

Fitch Ratings has upgraded seven series of prepaid municipal energy transactions from four issuers, actions that follow the agency’s upgrade of Morgan Stanley, the guarantor to the gas supplier in all of the transactions. Fitch lifted Morgan Stanley’s issuer default rating to A-plus from A Nov. 4, revising the outlook to stable at the higher

The Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority fuel line lenders said they have a document to stop the Oversight Board from getting its proposed restructuring approved. The document, the board’s agreement with former PREPA fuel provider Vitol for its support of the restructuring, will make it very difficult for the judge to accept Vitol as a

The District of Columbia’s first public private-public partnership was filled with challenges, but demonstrated how outside-the-box thinking can help issuers overcome obstacles to achieve their infrastructure goals. A panel discussion detailing the financing behind the ambitious plan occurred at the Bond Buyer Infrastructure Conference in Washington D.C. Monday. The D.C. Smart Street Lighting Project calls

The Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission heads into the market Tuesday with a $489 million new money deal with a new AAA rating attached to the third-lien paper. The commission will take competitive bids on the offering of third-lien state road bonds. PFM Financial Advisors LLC is advising. Gilmore & Bell PC and Bushyhead LLC

California voters still have faith in the citizens’ initiative process, but say it has become controlled by special interests and they would like to see improvements, according to a Public Policy Institute of California poll. In a post published Thursday, PPIC President and CEO Mark Baldassare said a poll conducted during October found the citizen’s

Amarillo, Texas, will appeal a state judge’s ruling rejecting the city’s plan to issue $260 million of tax anticipation notes for a civic center project.  Mayor Ginger Nelson said the move was needed to clarify conflicts between the ruling and current Texas law, particularly when it comes to debt issuance. The city filed a notice

Arizona’s water financing agency should think big when it comes to the state’s hunt for new water supplies amid a persistent drought. That was the message from board members of the relaunched Water Infrastructure Finance Authority at its inaugural meeting Thursday. State lawmakers passed legislation in June making WIFA, which dates back to 1989 and

Most members of the House Municipal Finance Caucus appear to have won re-election in Tuesday’s tight midterm elections, while key advocates of state and local tax reform will be exiting the stage next year. As results continued to trickle in Friday, Republicans were on track to gain a narrow majority in the House and Democrats

Chicago could win an upgrade into the single-A category if its new pension funding policy remains on track, S&P Global Ratings said in shifting the city’s general obligation outlook to positive from stable. S&P revised the outlook on the city’s BBB-plus general obligation rating Thursday, the same day Kroll Bond Rating Agency lifted the outlook

Chester, Pennsylvania, has filed for Chapter 9 bankruptcy. The petition was filed Thursday in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. In its Chapter 9 filing, the city’s receiver listed estimated liabilities of between $100 million and $500 million with assets of between $10 million and $50 million. The city has

On the heels of her election, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul returns to Albany to face the stiffest resistance yet to her $8 billion plan to redevelop Manhattan’s Penn Station, as a recently filed lawsuit seeks to halt the project before it breaks ground. The lawsuit, filed in New York Supreme Court late last month

Municipals rallied hard Thursday with the greatest gains seen out long after a lower-than-expected consumer price index report showed inflation is cooling, boosting all markets. U.S. Treasuries rallied out of the gates seeing yields close the session up to 31 basis points lower on the short end of the curve, while equities made massive gains,

Municipals were firmer 10 years and in Wednesday while another week of mutual fund outflows clocked in at $3.8 billion. U.S. Treasuries closed out the session better while equities sold off on weaker earnings. The focus shifted from midterm election results to Thursday’s monthly consumer price index report. “U.S. stocks declined as the midterm election

Democrats Erick Russell and James Diossa won open-seat campaigns for the state treasurer’s offices in Connecticut and Rhode Island. Russell will replace Connecticut State Treasurer Shawn Wooden, who didn’t seek re-election, and Diossa will replace Rhode Island General Treasurer Seth Magaziner, who ran for and won a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. Russell,

Voters in New York State approved the $4.2 billion Clean Water, Clean Energy, Green Jobs Environmental Bond Act bonds on Tuesday’s ballot. San Diego Unified School District voters approved $3.2 billion for facility and safety improvements. Austin ISD voters approved a $2.44 billion bond package including $2.316 billion for general purposes, $75.5 million for technology

Municipals were firmer again Tuesday along with U.S. Treasuries, while equities made modest gains as voters headed to the polls. Triple-A yields fell two to five basis points while USTs were lower by six to nine, with the strongest performance in the belly of the curve. With a more volatile UST market that saw yields

Several Puerto Rico credit unions argued for the court to undo the Puerto Rico and Government Development Bank for Puerto Rico plans of adjustment’s treatment of the credit unions’ nearly $1 billion of bonds, but the judges seemed unlikely to do so. The credit unions presented oral arguments before a panel of three judges from