Bonds

The U.S. House of Representatives has passed a bill that would give Puerto Rico voters a chance to vote for statehood or other options, but it is unlikely to make it through the Senate and become law this session. The U.S. House voted 233 to 191 in favor Thursday, with all Democrats and 16 Republicans

An Oklahoma legislator has once again filed a bill prohibiting government contracts with companies, including banks that underwrite municipal bonds, if they “discriminate” against the firearm industry. Republican State Sen. Casey Murdock authored a similar bill that fell short of passage in the 2022 legislative session. “The bill actually had wide margins of support in

The Capital Region Medical Center in Missouri will hold an investor call Monday as it works to finalize a forbearance from 2022 covenant defaults in an effort to buy time to stabilize its troubled financial condition. Capital Region reported non-payment related defaults in a Dec. 8th post on the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board’s EMMA website.

Cities, towns, counties and states will be required to standardize their financial information in machine-readable format by 2027 under a provision included in the defense authorization bill that President Joe Biden is expected to sign into law. The Senate Thursday overwhelmingly approved the $848 billion National Defense Authorization Act of 2023, which includes the Financial

In an attempt to further sever the state’s financial ties with businesses that have divested from the fossil fuel industry, Kentucky lawmakers are mulling new anti-ESG investment regulations. Attorney General David Cameron affirmed his support for expanding disclosure rules for environmental, social, and governance-related investments by major banks and businesses, and giving the state wider

The Securities and Exchange Commission has proposed a new Regulation Best Execution that would establish a best execution standard, mandating that dealers in any transaction with a customer or a customer of another broker-dealer use reasonable diligence to determine the best market for the security and buy or sell so that the price is as

Short-end municipals saw continued pressure Wednesday, further inverting the muni curve, while Fed Chairman Jerome Powell’s hawkish comments sent traders digesting the Fed’s next moves after the Federal Open Market Committee hiked rates 50 basis points. U.S. Treasuries ended the session slightly better after see-sawing post-FOMC and equities closed with losses. In his post-FOMC meeting

The California Housing Finance Agency had its rating upgraded to AA from AA-minus by S&P Global Ratings. S&P assigned a stable outlook. The rating is the highest general obligation rating in CalHFA’s 47-year history, according to the agency. “The rating action reflects our view of CalHFA’s significant improvement in financial ratios over the past two

Municipals continued to see large cuts on the short end Tuesday as selling pressure there remained elevated but the rest of the curve improved following a better-than-expected consumer price index report that led to a rally in U.S. Treasuries. Equities ended the session in the black. The one-year triple-A muni ended the session with up

Correction Karen Bass was a U.S. representative in Congress before winning election as Los Angeles mayor. Her previous elected position was incorrect in the original version of this story. December 13, 2022 9:56 AM EST Correction Karen Bass was a U.S. representative in Congress before winning election as Los Angeles mayor. Her previous elected position

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:

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. 

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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.