Bonds

To run a municipality in 2023 means preparing for constant cyberattacks.  Cyberattacks have become “an everyday phenomenon” for municipalities, said Omid Rahmani, associate director of public finance at Fitch Ratings. “This problem is not going to get better. In the short term, it’s going to get worse before it gets better.” Moody’s Investors Service found

The Federal Reserve needs to raise interest rates a bit further to rein in an inflation rate that’s too high, monetary expert John Taylor said. “They’ve had a big adjustment over the last couple of years,” the Stanford University professor told a webinar hosted by the American Council for Capital Formation on Thursday, adding, “I

Municipals were little changed Wednesday as U.S. Treasuries were weaker after the release of the Federal Open Market Committee meeting minutes showed more tightening is likely on the way. Equities were in the red to close the session. The secondary was uneven but triple-A yield curves were mostly steady, as municipals are wont to do

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson tapped state banking regulator Chasse Rehwinkel to fill the city comptroller’s position, a choice that completes his picks for the city’s top fiscal posts. The comptroller manages the collection or disbursement of city revenues and all funds required to be in the custody of the city treasurer.  The chief financial officer, budget director,

For the first time in more than 30 years, the Florida Insurance Guaranty Association tapped the municipal bond market, selling tax-exempt fixed-rate bonds last week to help fund claims from insolvent insurance companies in the state. FIGA is set to head back to the market next week with a $125 million variable-rate deal. BofA Securities,

The Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, a U.S. territory, “is at risk of a severe fiscal crisis,” according to a U.S. Government Accounting Office report. The CNMI had $114 million of debt outstanding as of September 2020, much of it bond debt, according to its most recent audited statement. The government at that time

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