Bonds

Puerto Rico Gov. Pedro Pierluisi proposed a General Fund budget for the coming fiscal year with 6.6% more spending than the current budget. On Wednesday Pierluisi said he would seek a $10.713 billion General Fund budget for fiscal year 2022, which starts July 1. By comparison, the Puerto Rico Oversight Board-approved General Fund budget for

In a move to expand its public finance reach nationally, Raymond James has hired veteran municipal banker Jim Tricolli as a managing director. Tricolli will provide professional counsel to Gavin Murrey, executive vice president and head of public finance/debt investment banking, as the firm looks to expand across the country. Tricolli will be based in

Munis were little changed as a massive snowstorm pummeled the Northeast triggering states of emergency and vaccine cancelations. Trading was quiet and triple-A benchmarks were unmoved even as U.S. Treasuries faded and equities rebounded from losses and volatility last week. In the primary, a lone competitive deal of size got done as Worcester, Massachusetts, (Aa3/AA-//)

Municipal volume in January fell year-over-year as issuers hit the pause button while contemplating COVID-19 effects on their budgets and the potential for direct aid from Washington. Total volume fell 26.7% in January to $24.023 billion from $32.792 billion in 2020. Tax-exempt financings fell 32.6% to $14.662 billion from $23.995 in 2020, refundings fell 14.8%

Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas President Robert Kaplan predicted an “enthusiastic” internal discussion over the U.S. central bank’s massive bond-buying program, while vowing to be patient in judging when the economy has made sufficient progress to warrant scaling it back. “I don’t want to associate or even think about associating a time frame with that,”

Municipal secondary activity was quiet Friday but weakness in U.S. Treasuries and an unsettled equities market led to small cuts to triple-A benchmarks around the five- to 10-year part of the curve. About $7.44 billion of issuance is expected for the first week of February, up from the $5.95 billion issued the last week of

Municipal yields were steady across the curve as rising U.S. Treasury yields took some of the shine off of a two-day muni rally, but inflows continued to hit records with another multi-billion week. Refinitiv Lipper reported $2.79 billion of inflows into municipal bond mutual funds for the week ending Jan. 27, a record. It was

Illinois avoided the grim, early COVID-19 tax loss warnings as a recovery began quicker than expected thanks to federal stimulus and changes in consumer spending, a University of Illinois pandemic task force found. The net effect of revenue losses from the pandemic through November totaled $801 million for the state’s “big three” sources: personal and

U.S. Virgin Islands Gov. Albert Bryan warned the territory’s underfunded pensions were becoming critical and said help is coming for the ailing power system. Bryan addressed these and other financial topics in his annual state of the territory speech Tuesday evening. Virgin Islands Gov. Albert Bryan said the island’s pension system was in an “accelerating

Chicago’s school district is heading into the market for its first COVID-19 era deal with a balance sheet shored up by federal relief. The district is selling this week $560 million of tax-exempt, dedicated revenue-backed general obligation paper that carries two junk ratings and one at investment grade. Chicago Public Schools will sell $560 million

Gov. Kate Brown said in her annual State of the State address that she wants to rebuild from a place of racial and economic equality as Oregon attempts to recover from a year overshadowed by wildfires, violent protests and the pandemic. Rating agencies have said social issues, including how states are addressing income inequality and

S&P Global Ratings lifted its outlook for Detroit to stable from negative ahead of a $175 million general obligation bond sale.Bloomberg News Detroit heads into the bond market in early February with a rating outlook boost as the speculative-grade city makes the case that it is capably managing the fiscal blows of the COVID-19 pandemic.

With a single basis point bump in yields across the municipal curve on Friday, the market readied for the new-issue calendar with the expected arrival of a $1 billion Texas Municipal Gas deal, several taxable and transportation deals, and a $260 million competitive deal from gilt-edged Fairfax County, Virginia. A “perpetual calm” continued to fall

Tax-exempt yields fell one to two basis points Thursday, the first time in a week there was movement in triple-A generic benchmark scales, as the imbalance of supply versus the pent-up demand persisted and Refinitiv Lipper reported another multi-billion week of inflows, the 11th consecutive week of inflows. The Port Authority of New York and

Municipal yields were steady throughout the day as the tax-exempt market saw the launch of the retail order period on $868 million of Port Authority of New York and New Jersey revenue bonds, N.J. turnpikes priced and Joe Biden was inaugurated as the 46th president of the United States. Municipal bond yields on triple-A benchmarks

California’s widening gap between its rich and poor, plus population losses this year, are credit factors and not just from an ESG standpoint, according to S&P Global Rating analysts. California Forward, a think tank, released its California Dream index last week, which it said, confirmed that prosperity was not experienced evenly by all Californians. The

The University of Utah is reopening classrooms for the spring 2021 semester.U. of Utah Amid a challenging environment for higher education, the University of Utah is diving into 2021 with $172 million of taxable and tax-exempt bonds. The university is planning to price the new money and refunding debt Jan. 21 through negotiation with book-runner

President-elect Joe Biden’s proposed $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief bill would relieve the financial stress on local governments.Bloomberg News Direct federal aid of $350 billion to state and local governments is just one of several ways President-elect Joe Biden’s proposed $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief bill would relieve the financial stress on local governments. Biden’s plan to

Federal Reserve Bank of Boston President Eric Rosengren said President-elect Joe Biden’s request for $1.9 trillion in economic relief is needed as growth shows signs of slowing. “It’s a big package, but I think it’s appropriate,” Rosengren said Friday in a CNBC interview. “The economy is in a lull right now, we’ve had a series

Municipals were quiet and remained steady on Friday as U.S. Treasuries dipped slightly following President-elect Joe Biden’s address Thursday night that outlined plans for a $1.9 trillion relief package and the market prepared for a three-day weekend. In his speech, Biden called for a new round of stimulus checks and pandemic control measures. “Everyone was

Former Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder and two emergency managers he appointed were arraigned along with six others Thursday on criminal charges for alleged actions in the 2014 Flint water contamination crisis that occurred while the city was under state fiscal oversight. The charges filed against the former governor who served from 2011 to 2019 are

Former Michigan Governor Rick Snyder was charged with willful neglect of duty on the eve of the state’s announcement about the outcome of a criminal probe into the lead contamination of the water supply in the city of Flint. The charges against Snyder were filed Wednesday by the state’s attorney general, Dana Nessel, in state

It’s premature to discuss reducing the amount of monetary-policy support for the U.S. economy while the pandemic is still raging, said Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President James Bullard. “We want to get through the pandemic and sort of see where the dust settles, then we will be able to think about where to

Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond President Thomas Barkin says the U.S. could face a bumpy first six months but will be well supported by the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines and fiscal stimulus later in the year. “I do think you’re looking at a second half that is going to be very strong and the question

The Illinois Supreme Court should reject the “cramped” definition of state borrowing authority applied in litigation seeking to void $14.3 billion of Illinois general obligation bonds, the state argues in a brief. The state’s arguments in the brief mark the latest salvo in the efforts by John Tillman, head of the conservative Illinois Policy Institute,

The continued escalation of COVID-19 cases in California and the resulting economic volatility took precedence as Gov. Gavin Newsom unveiled his $222.2 billion budget proposal for fiscal 2021. Newsom wants to spend some of the money from a $26 billion income tax windfall, but also set aside $22 billion for reserves while pinning some hope

When global law firm Norton Rose Fulbright announced new partners added to its ranks Friday many women, including San Francisco-based Mary Kimura were among those promoted. Kimura was one of 10 lawyers in U.S., and the only public finance attorney, named to partner. The firm promoted 25 female lawyers globally, representing 53 percent of the

The Federal Reserve has returned about $42 billion to the U.S. Treasury, and will soon transfer another $20 billion in excess funds connected to emergency lending facilities that stopped offering new loans last month, the central bank said Thursday in documents posted on its website. Bloomberg News The transfers will fulfill the promise made by

The Puerto Rico Oversight Board announced Wednesday that Pres. Donald Trump would name David Skeel and Arthur González to serve three-year terms on the Puerto Rico Oversight Board. The board made the announcement late Wednesday. The announcement wasn’t on the White House press site at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday. Earlier in the day The El Nuevo

The secondary market saw an uptick in trading of high-grades on Tuesday but those bonds came at a cost while yields on AAA scales were firmer by a basis point seven years and out as the supply/demand imbalance remains. Few new issues priced. In the competitive market on Tuesday, Nassau County, N.Y., (A2/A+/A/) sold $370