Bonds

Shreveport, Louisiana, was downgraded by Moody’s Ratings.Adobe Stock Shreveport, Louisiana, was downgraded to Baa2 from Baa1 Wednesday by Moody’s Ratings. The agency maintains a negative outlook on the rating. The downgrade of Shreveport’s issuer, general obligation and senior revenue ratings will affect $2.1 billion in debt when the city completes the anticipated $88 million Series

North Carolina’s largest transportation project to date may be structured as a public-private partnership after the controversial toll lanes proposal won a pair of key votes last week. The Charlotte City Council and transportation planning group Charlotte Regional Transportation Planning Organization gave the green light to the North Carolina Department of Transportation to pursue a

Houston Controller Chris Hollins’ investor conference took place Tuesday without the  participation of key city officials after Mayor John Whitmore raised “pay-to-play” concerns about corporate sponsorships for the event and requested a city probe. Hollins countered on Tuesday, calling on the Houston inspector general’s office to also investigate corporate sponsorships for the mayor’s Sept. 17

New York City Comptroller Brad Lander endorsed excluding fossil fuel infrastructure from NYC pension investments.  Under such a policy, three New York funds would be the first large pension funds in the country to avoid all midstream and downstream fossil fuel infrastructure in their private markets investments. “Climate risk is financial risk,” Lander said at

Municipals extended their selloff with the largest losses on the short end amid another busy day in the primary market, led by an upsized JFK Airport Terminal 6 Redevelopment Project deal. U.S. Treasuries were little changed and equities ended mixed. Triple-A yields rose three to 12 basis points, playing some catch up after recent outperformance.

The Securities and Exchange Commission’s Examination Division will take a closer look at municipal advisors, specifically non-solicitor municipal advisors in FY 2025, and will begin enforcing the move to a T+1 settlement cycle. That comes on the backs of the Commission’s first case enforcing Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board Rule G-42, which was established in 2016

Municipals were weaker Monday following U.S. Treasury market pressures while equities ended down. Triple-A yields rose up to seven basis points while govies were higher by eight to 12 basis points. Short ratios fell as a result of the day’s moves. The two-year muni-to-Treasury ratio Monday day was at 61%, the three-year at 61%, the

PNC bank has recently made several new hires, beefing up its banking presence in the west and in Texas. Christopher Roberts joined the firm in August as managing director and head of Western Region & National Public Power/Utilities, and Joey Dierker joined as an associate director. More recent hires include Soledad Mancias and Steve Bassett,

Houston Mayor John Whitmire took aim Thursday at city Controller Chris Hollins for soliciting sponsorships from municipal bond firms for an upcoming investor conference, saying it smacks of pay-to-play and calling for an investigation. The mayor said he received calls from bond underwriting firms about sponsorships for Tuesday’s event with price tags ranging from $10,000

The public private partnership that took over Puerto Rico toll roads out of the territory’s bankruptcy is gearing up to sell municipal debt for the enterprise. The Wisconsin-based Public Finance Authority will be pricing the $286.2 million in senior revenue bonds on behalf of Puerto Rico Tollroads, LLC. Barclays is an underwriter. Fitch Ratings rates

Broward County, Florida’s Tourism Development Tax, sales tax, and Professional Sports Facilities tax and revenue refunding bonds were upgraded by Moody’s Ratings, affecting about $628 million in bonds. Moody’s upgraded the county’s TDT revenue bonds, Series 2021 (Convention Center Expansion Project) to Aa2 from Aa3; sales tax bonds, Series 2020, to Aaa from Aa1; and

Hyman Grossman, former head of public finance at S&P and longtime industry veteran known for expanding S&P’s public finance analytics team from its early days into the giant it now is, as well as great friend, family man and mentor to many, has passed away at the age of 89. “He was an analyst covering

Municipals were little changed Friday ahead of another robust new-issue week while U.S. Treasuries made some gains and equities closed in the black. “Strong September employment numbers and a somewhat higher CPI reading continued to reverberate through the bond market,” said BofA Global Research strategists Yingchen Li and Ian Rogow in a weekly report. “This,

Bloomberg News Where California goes, the nation follows, the saying goes, and it appears to be true when it comes to the California Public Employees’ Retirement System. The nation’s largest public pension fund had $502.9 billion in assets under management at the end of fiscal 2024, it announced in a July news release. A preliminary

A stalwart municipal market veteran, devoted friend, and beloved husband and father, George C. Mulry III, a managing director in public finance marketing at Assured Guaranty, died on Oct. 9. He was 64 years old. Mulry is remembered for the lives he touched and his unimpeachable work ethic. He spent nearly 40 years in the

Moody’s Ratings on Tuesday put the Chicago Board of Education on notice that it will watch the school district’s next steps after Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson appointed a new school board. All seven previous board members resigned earlier this month. Moody’s said it will be monitoring whether and how those board changes factor into decisions

Municipals were firmer Wednesday as muni mutual funds saw inflows top $2 billion and Pennsylvania led the new-issue calendar with $1.6 million of general obligation bonds in three series. U.S. Treasury yields fell slightly and equities ended up. The two-year muni-to-Treasury ratio Wednesday was at 63%, the three-year at 62%, the five-year at 64%, the

Months after Minnesota’s second-largest healthcare employer was downgraded by two rating agencies, the Minnesota Nurses Association is taking aim at the management of Minneapolis-based Allina Health and arguing that Allina’s board should be composed of “largely bedside workers.” The union, which represents 22,000 nurses across Minnesota, Wisconsin, North Dakota and Iowa, released a report on

Municipals were little changed Tuesday as investors await a surge of new issuance to hit the market Wednesday and Thursday. U.S. Treasuries rallied out long and equities ended down. Two weeks into the fourth quarter of the year, munis are posting negative returns in October, down 0.56%, bringing year-to-date returns down to 1.72%, said Jason

Houston dodged a blow to its fiscal 2025 budget when Texas officials Wednesday freed up state funds to help pay the city’s share of costs to remove debris created by two fierce storms this year. The situation underscored fiscal problems the nation’s fourth-largest city faces from natural disasters that could compound its growing structural budget