Bonds

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy averted a government shutdown Friday, signing into law a record-setting $54.3 billion fiscal 2024 spending plan hours ahead of a July 1 budget deadline. The budget records an $8.3 billion surplus and features $5.4 billion of new spending in addition to major tax code changes and tax-relief provisions. For the

Municipals were little changed ahead of the Fourth of July, while U.S. Treasuries were weaker and equities ended up. Triple-A yields were steady, while UST yields rose three to eight basis points. Municipal to UST ratios fell as a result. The two-year muni-to-Treasury ratio Monday was at 59%, the three-year at 61%, the five-year at

16Rock Asset Management LLC has launched a new hedge fund aimed at using a multi-strategy approach to capture the $4 trillion municipal markets’ recurring opportunities. The new fund, which launched Saturday and is open to trade, is called the 16Rock Municipal Opportunities Fund LP and will compete in the small universe of municipal hedge funds.

June municipal bond issuance dropped 9% from 2022 as uncertainty over Federal Reserve policy and market volatility continued, but the total was the highest month of the year. June’s total volume was $34.436 billion in 744 issues, down from $37.775 billion in 984 issues a year earlier, according to Refinitiv data, and lower than the

Connecticut Green Bank is offering a seventh round of its one-year taxable Green Liberty Notes in a sale set to conclude on July 31. With buy-in starting at $100, the notes are geared towards retail investors, carry a 5% coupon rate, and will be issued through CGB Green Liberty Notes LLC, a subsidiary of the

Dallas is moving ahead with plans to finance the replacement of its convention center and improvements to Fair Park starting with the private placement in August of short-term debt, which would be refunded as part of a sale of at least $1.4 billion of long-term bonds in 2024. The city council June 14 authorized work

Municipals were steady to end the month and first half of the year ahead of a paltry new-issue calendar which will see next week’s volume drop to the lowest level of 2023. U.S. Treasuries were firmer out long and equities rallied. Treasuries saw yields fall by as much as seven basis points on the long

The Puerto Rico Oversight Board Friday approved the commonwealth’s fiscal 2024 budget that increases government spending and was already approved by the governor and local legislature. The budget consensus marks a departure from the long history of disagreements between the territory’s elected government and the board created by the federal government to restructure Puerto Rico’s

Another $42 billion worth of infrastructure spending dedicated to improving broadband connectivity is now moving from federal to state coffers, spurring comparisons to electrification efforts under the New Deal nearly a century ago and potentially kickstarting additional bond issuance. The Broadband Equity Access and Deployment Program flows from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and is aimed

Not-for-profit hospital balance sheets are on the mend from last year’s challenges that inflicted deep damage on balance sheets, but pressures persist and the recovery is slow going, according to reports published this week. Hospital finances showed signs of stabilizing in May with some improvement in operating margins, declining expenses and notable increases in outpatient visits,

Kroll Bond Rating Agency has hired two public finance veterans for its municipal ratings team, the firm announced Wednesday. Ted Damutz and Lina Santoro joined Kroll in May as directors in the public finance department. “The addition of two talented analysts like Ted and Lina reflects our growing footprint in public finance,” Karen Daly, senior

U.S. District Judge Laura Taylor Swain rejected a request by bond parties for her to certify interlocutory appeals of her decisions in the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority bankruptcy. In a Wednesday hearing, Swain said she did not see a reason to reconsider her May decision rejecting certifying an appeal to her decision against a

As the Biden administration this week kicks off a national tour promoting its nearly two-year-old infrastructure law, the work to dispatch the funds into state and local coffers has just begun. A recent exchange between Federal Highway Administrator Shailen Bhatt and Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W. Va., at a June 14 Senate committee hearing on

Pension funding-related threats to Chicago and Illinois’ fiscal health are on the rise, reports published this week warn. Chicago and Illinois — longtime examples of outliers nationally on the size of their unfunded liabilities and funded ratios — have made progress, with Chicago now making payments more closely aligned with an actuarial calculation and both

Transcription: Chip Barnett (00:03):Hi and welcome to another edition of The Bond Buyer podcast. I’m Chip Barnett and my guest today is Virginia Wong. She’s a partner with Nixon Peabody, where she leads the law firm’s project finance and public finance practice group. And today we’re going to be focusing on effective mentorship and building

Vikram Rai, head of Citi’s municipal strategy group, has left the firm, he announced on Monday, after his position was eliminated. “Today was my last day at Citi,” he said in an email to clients. “I got cut,” he told The Bond Buyer. “I’m looking for a new job now.” Rai is an outspoken and

A nearly 30-year-old rule restricting solicitation of municipal securities business would be reconsidered under a Republican environmental, social and governance-related investment bill that also tackles other high-profile muni market issues. The bill, introduced last week by Rep. Andy Barr, R-Ky., would examine the effectiveness of Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board Rule G-38, which prohibits a dealer

Market data platform SOLVE has launched a new platform that provides information for market professionals through the aggregation, curation and delivery of available historical and real-time fixed-income data. Some of the resources available include color from SOLVE’s AI-powered technology, regulatory compliance solutions, coverage of illiquid securities and a suite of tools for new-issue and secondary

As New York City officials grapple with finding ways to balance their budget for the next fiscal year, one area of growing concern revolves around the very ground that the city is built on — commercial real estate. Comptroller Brad Lander’s office last week took a deep dive into how hybrid work is affecting the

Broker-dealers remain hopeful for policy issues vital to the municipal bond market including restoring advance refunding and raising the bank-qualified limit following a Bond Dealers of America fly-in event Thursday. Representatives of BDA member firms descended on Congress in a lobbying blitz that included visits with lawmakers on the House Financial Services Committee and the