Bonds

Fitch Ratings has downgraded the San Francisco’s Bay Area Rapid Transit District to AA from AA-plus. The rating agency also maintained its negative outlook at the lower rating. Fitch’s action Thursday affects BART’s issuer default rating and $686 million in taxable sales tax revenue bonds. The agency had just shy of $2 billion of long-term

Municipals were unmoved in light trading to start the last week of August while U.S. Treasuries maintained Friday’s levels and equities advanced on news the FDA gave the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine full approval. Municipal benchmark yield curves continued to hold steady for the seventh day as investors await a diverse primary that includes gilt-edged Montgomery

Public facilities and environmental facilities were the municipal sectors that grew the most in volume in the first half of 2021 compared to the same period of 2020. The public facilities sector was up 126.9% and environmental facilities was up 77.7%. The transportation sector was third, growing 48.6%. The increases compare to an overall 9.9%

Leaders of California’s high-speed rail project have not given up on garnering additional federal funds to pay for the slow-moving project that is supposed to link the state’s major cities. High-speed rail, championed by President Joe Biden on the campaign trail, was shunted to the sideline in the $1.2 trillion infrastructure package. Brian Kelly, chief

Dallas Fed President Robert Kaplan said he’s open to adjusting his view that the Federal Reserve should start tapering its asset-purchase program sooner rather than later if the Delta variant persists and hurts economic progress. The Fed is currently buying $80 billion per month in Treasuries and $40 billion in mortgage-backed securities in an effort

Some members of the Puerto Rico Oversight Board want to reach a “grand bargain” with the local legislature to complete Puerto Rico’s debt deals. Both the Puerto Rico House of Representatives and Senate have voted overwhelmingly in favor of measures declaring they would not approve any bonds for a Plan of Adjustment that cut pensions

The tax-exempt market languished through a quiet summer Friday as municipals finished unchanged for the sixth straight trading session. IHS Ipreo estimates supply for the upcoming week at $7.04 billion. The week’s supply is composed of $5.36 billion of negotiated deals and $1.68 billion of competitive sales. Breaking it down, Refinitiv MMD calculated the tax-exempt

The Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City’s annual Jackson Hole gathering, which was due to be held in person Aug. 26-28, is now shifting to a virtual format, the bank announced Friday. The regional Fed bank said it was making the move “due to the recently elevated COVID-19 health risk level in Teton County, Wyoming.”

Puerto Rico’s government is taking steps toward increasing the island’s minimum wage, which could ultimately affect more than half of the work force. On Wednesday the Puerto Rico House of Representatives voted 29 in favor, nine against for a bill to raise the minimum wage, based on a compromise with the leaders of the Puerto

Municipals remained steady on an otherwise lackluster Thursday as the New York Liberty Development Corp. came to market with $1.22 billion of green bonds. Thursday saw the pricing of the last of the week’s large deals and a typical slow summer Friday lies ahead. A New York underwriter said the secondary continued to trade sideways

HilltopSecurities has hired two key financial services leaders from Piper Sandler for its public finance division in Florida and Minnesota. John Pellicci, former managing director at Piper Sandler, will serve as senior managing director, head of municipal high yield underwriting and sales at Hilltop. Yaffa Rattner, also formerly managing director at Piper Sandler, joined Hilltop

Investors digested three mammoth deals of $1 billion or more in the primary market on a heavy day of issuance as municipals remained unchanged, Treasuries were mostly steady, and more than $2.5 billion flowed into long-term municipal bonds. The primary market activity was brisk Tuesday as all eyes turned to the Federal Open Market Committee’s

Fitch Ratings has upgraded Sacramento, California’s issuer default rating to AA from AA-minus. The outlook is stable. Monday’s upgrade “reflects the city’s steady improvements in financial resilience based on incremental gains in reserves. Sacramento’s underlying economic growth coupled with a voter-approved sales tax, which has been permanently renewed, have fueled the increase in reserves,” Fitch

Municipals were steady and relative value increased on the long end of the market amid rising Treasuries Tuesday. The Puerto Rico Aqueduct and Sewer Authority came to market with over $800 million of bonds as two New York issuers offered large deals to hungry retail investors ahead of Wednesday’s release of the Federal Open Market

The Federal Reserve told a judge not to scrap Libor as requested by consumers in a lawsuit because it would pose a risk to financial stability and undermine years of global planning for a transition to a new benchmark for borrowing rates. A staged transition away from the London interbank offered rate is underway globally,

Municipals were steady on Monday as New York City took orders of over $110 million on the first day of a two-day retail order period for $1.039 billion of general obligation bonds. Investors prepared for a week that will see nearly $10 billion of new volume come to market. Triple-A benchmark bonds from 2022 to

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board will let municipal advisor principals take the Series 54 qualification exam online and file for an extension of the deadline to pass that test after advisors said they were unsettled by news of COVID-19 exposure at a testing site. The MSRB posted a notice Wednesday afternoon saying it is working

Nine mayors from across the country backed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s call for Congress to approve both the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and the $3.5 billion budget reconciliation package. The same number of moderate Democrats in the House came out Thursday against Pelosi’s approach, saying the House shouldn’t delay passage of the bipartisan infrastructure

Two Rhode Island agencies will go to the market with negotiated infrastructure and housing deals next week. The Rhode Island Infrastructure Bank on Tuesday plans a $128 million refunding of Series 2021A state revolving fund revenue bonds. Tuesday will also mark the retail order period for the Rhode Island Housing and Mortgage Finance Corp.’s $172

ICE Data Services has launched a new service designed to help investors navigate the complex world of social impact investing in the municipal bond market. The ICE social impact scores, powered by risQ, will let the service’s users compare which local communities will be socially impacted the most by their investments, a strong component in