Bonds

A group of Wall Street banks are set to avoid a long-awaited trial in Illinois over charges of inflating interest rates on the state’s variable-rate debt after a Cook County judge Monday granted the banks’ motion to vacate the trial in light of a proposed settlement with the state. The deal may not be done

Property owners fighting Oklahoma Turnpike Authority extension plans blasted the agency in filings this week with the state supreme court, which is nearing a decision on the validity of initial bonds for the $5 billion project. The briefs took issue with OTA’s response last month to questions from the high court concerning the U.S. Bureau

New York City’s capital program will be getting a much-needed bond boost as the New York City Transitional Finance Authority readies a sale of $1.08 billion of future tax-secured subordinate debt. Proceeds from the sale will be used to fund infrastructure projects in the city’s $164.8 billion 10-year capital plan. The fiscal 2024 executive capital

UBS Financial Services has been granted preliminary approval to settle a class action lawsuit against it with bondholders for $2.5 million. The settlement stems from charges that UBS allegedly reported tax information incorrectly and cost investors millions, according to the suit.  The bank is accused of not reporting amortizable bond premiums on tax forms that

Municipals were slightly firmer in spots Friday while U.S. Treasuries saw losses, snapping a two-day rally, following stronger-than-estimated consumer sentiment data. Equities were mixed. Municipals largely ignored the moves in Treasuries after underperforming the rally throughout the week. Some of the outperformance municipals have shown over the past few weeks is due to a dearth

The Indiana Finance Authority will head into the market as soon as Tuesday with Indianapolis-based water and wastewater utility refundings using a tender and forward delivery structure popular in the current market to achieve savings. The Indiana Finance Authority serves as conduit the CWA Authority Inc. in an offering of an $80.7 million first-lien wastewater

The Texas Legislature took final action Thursday on a massive property tax cut after beating back attempts in the House to include teacher pay increases and other measures in the bill. Senate Bill 2, which passed the Senate in a 31-0 vote, cleared the House in a 133-4 vote. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who advocated

Benjamin S. Wolfe of Short Hills, New Jersey, a former public finance banker passed away on Saturday, July 8, 2023. He was 85. He was born on Aug. 18, 1937, in Newark, New Jersey, to Bertha and Milton Wolfe. He grew up in Newark and graduated from Weequahic High School before earning a bachelor’s degree

California lawmakers are in negotiations on a bill that would ask voters for $15.5 billion of bond authority to help fill a gap in the state’s plans to spend $54 billion over five years to tackle climate change. The state Senate approved Senate Bill 867 on May 31on a 33-5 vote. The bill, currently in

Nashville, Tennessee received a series of upgrades from S&P Global this week. The credit agency on Monday boosted Metropolitan Nashville and Davidson County’s long-term general obligation debt rating to AA+ from AA. The upgrades also apply to obligations supported by its non-tax revenue. The outlook is stable. The action reflected Nashville’s efforts to “strengthen its

North Carolina Treasurer Dale Folwell praised the General Assembly’s override of Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto of legislation on environmental social and governance issues. Late last month, the General Assembly overrode the governor’s veto of House Bill 750, which removed political and social considerations from state pension plan investment decisions. “I think the citizens of this

Assured Guaranty Municipal Corp. hired Marc Livolsi, formerly of Citigroup, as managing director of public finance marketing. Livolsi, who worked at Citigroup Global Markets Inc. for 25 years until the bank cut his position in February along with two others in its municipal team, will focus on building relationships with public finance professionals as well

Transcription:Jessica Lerner (00:03):Hello everyone and welcome to another Bond Buyer podcast. I’m Jessica Lerner, markets reporter at the Bond Buyer. I’m happy to welcome Nick Venditti, municipal bond portfolio manager with Allspring Global Investments. Welcome, Nick.  Nick Venditti (00:18):Thank you so much for having me.  Jessica Lerner (00:19):Yeah, it’s great to talk again. The first

Municipals were mixed Monday ahead of a larger new-issue slate while U.S. Treasuries improved and equities were up near the close. Triple-A yields saw a mix of one to two basis point bumps and cuts, depending on the curve, while UST saw yields fall by one to 11 basis points with the strongest moves inside

Municipal underwriters handled $171.714 billion in 3,501 issues in the first half of 2023. The total par amount and issues continued to decline, down from $201.119 billion in 4,688 deals in 2022.  BofA Securities remained at the top of the list, with $22.948 billion, accounting for 13.4% of the market, but the rest of the

New York State Common Retirement Fund’s investment return was negative 4.14% for the state’s fiscal year that ended March 31, said state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli. The fund is valued at $248.5 billion. The fund’s returns reflect retirement and death benefits of $14.7 billion, which were paid during the fiscal year. For the prior fiscal year,

Despite wide expectations for declining revenues, big-ticket tax cuts were on the agenda in state legislatures across the Northeast during the most recent budget negotiation periods. With a slowdown in economic activity expected going into fiscal 2024 after a strong post-COVID rebound, almost every state in the region passed or is still negotiating tax cuts