Bonds

The Port of Los Angeles notched its second busiest April in its history even as COVID-19 lockdowns continued in parts of China. The lockdowns that went into effect six weeks ago have not resulted in a dramatic change in the number of vessels or cargo leaving China, POLA Executive Director Gene Seroka said Friday during

A coalition of former transportation officials, advocates and union leaders wrote a letter to California Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon and Senate President Pro Tempore Toni Atkins urging them to release voter-approved bond funds to move the state’s high-speed rail project forward. The letter is the latest in the skirmish over California’s embattled high-speed rail project,

A drumbeat of criticism is building over a proposed global tax regime that may hurt demand for tax-exempt debt and other U.S. tax credits. What’s not clear is whether Treasury is hearing it. At issue is implementation of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development’s new minimum global corporate tax rate of 15%, a deal

Municipals were weaker amid more selling pressure to close out the week, U.S. Treasury yields rose with the 10-year sitting firmly above 3% and equities ended in the red. Triple-A muni benchmarks were cut up to four basis points while UST yields rose five to 10 basis points five years and out. Muni to UST

S&P Global Ratings raised Illinois’ ratings by one notch Friday. The action completes a round of upgrades that rewarded the state for progress in tackling chronic strains that were made worse by a two-year budget impasse that dragged the state’s ratings to the edge of junk. S&P lifted the general obligation rating to BBB-plus from

The Texas Natural Gas Securitization Finance Corporation on Friday picked Jefferies to lead a team of underwriters for its upcoming $3.4 billion bond issue for utilities that were hit with high costs during 2021’s Winter Storm Uri. A few members of that team — Morgan Stanley, one of the deal’s co-senior managers, along with co-managers

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot chose Bally’s Corporation from the three short-listed candidates to hold the city’s first casino license, with the promise of a $40 million upfront payment and then a $200 million annual tax jackpot. The selection of the Bally’s $1.7 billion casino and resort development proposal marks a milestone in the city’s decades-long

Wisconsin Capital Finance Director David Erdman will retire in July after a 32-year career with the state, the last seven in the role of debt manager during which the state won upgrades and his stature as an advocate for the issuer community grew. Erdman plans to leave the state July 2 and on July 5

Yuba Water Agency officials say it’s only sheer luck that’s kept its 313,000-acre watershed in California’s Central Valley from burning. Several watersheds around Yuba’s, which suffer the same dry, overstocked conditions amid the state’s extended drought, have experienced megafires, said Joanna Lessard, the agency’s project manager for the watershed resilience and forest health program.  “We’ve

Municipals were mixed as participants mostly sat on sidelines while U.S. Treasuries rallied on the short end after the Fed hiked rates a half-percentage point. Equities rallied to close the day. The 50 basis point rate hike is the steepest increase since 2000 and follows the 25 basis point rate hike in March. The bond

The Philadelphia region saw a 21% increase in tourists last year as more than 36 million people visited the region, according to Philadelphia Convention and Visitors Bureau. The city and the bureau said Wednesday the increase shows tourism is rebounding in the region as the COVD-19 pandemic continues to ease. While the sector saw year-over-year

The U.S. economy will probably fall into a recession as the Federal Reserve combats multidecade-high inflation, Randal Quarles, the Fed’s former vice chair for supervision, said. “Given the intensity of inflation, the degree to which unemployment has been driven down — to bring that back into an equilibrium, it’s unlikely the Fed is going to

The Puerto Rico Oversight Board submitted a proposed Plan of Adjustment for the Puerto Rico Highways and Transportation Authority and proposed a confirmation hearing for it to be held in mid-September. The board submitted the proposed plan, proposed Disclosure Statement, and three other motions concerning the legal processes on the road to confirmation on Monday

The Fed’s choreographed rate-raising exercise may well tail off by year’s end, several prominent asset managers said Monday. The managers were speaking at the Milken Institute Global Conference Beverly Hills. . “I think the Fed will turn dovish by the end of the year and that will lead to a lot of opportunity on the

Texas ballots are bursting with a record $18.5 billion of bonds Saturday as cities and school districts ask voters to approve 207 debt issues to accommodate in many cases the state’s ballooning population.   The amount of debt tops the previous record of $15.45 billion that was put to voters in November 2019 — of which

Oregon filed amended offering documents Thursday for a recent lottery bond deal after the state Court of Appeals reversed a $1 billion verdict against the state in a dispute over forest management. The Department of Administrative Services had priced $217.7 million in lottery revenue bonds in two tranches of taxable and tax-exempt debt two weeks

Municipal issuance dropped 7.5% year-over-year in April, again owing to a drop in taxable and refunding volumes in the face of continued market volatility and rising interest rates. The $34 billion figure is slightly up from the 10-year average of $33.612 billion. Total April volume was $34.329 billion in 729 deals versus $37.105 billion in

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board plans to issue a request for comment on a retrospective review of its Rule G-14 in hopes of cutting down the standard 15 minute time of trade reporting window that has been in place since 2005. That was decided at the MSRB’s quarterly board meeting which concluded Thursday. The MSRB

S&P Global Ratings revised the outlook on the Reedy Creek Improvement District to developing from stable due to the uncertainty as to what will happen next in the economic/political saga playing out in Florida. “The outlook revision to developing reflects our view that there is at least a one-in-three chance that the credit profile securing

Municipals were mixed Friday, outperforming larger losses in U.S. Treasury ahead of the Federal Open Market Committee meeting next week where the Fed is expected to implement another rate hike. Equities sold off led by tech stocks. Triple-A benchmarks were cut up to two basis points, depending on the scale, while UST yields rose seven