Bonds

Municipal bonds were slightly weaker Friday ahead of an $8.4 billion new-issue calendar and the last full week of January. U.S. Treasuries were mixed on the day while equities saw another session of gains as markets continue to digest the unlikelihood of any Federal Reserve rate cuts in the first quarter. Triple-A yields rose two

A trial over Missouri’s first-of-their-kind ESG investment rules will go ahead after a federal judge this month rejected the state’s motion to dismiss. The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association sued the Show Me State last August over a pair of four-month-old anti-environmental, social and governance securities rules. The measures require advisors and broker-dealers to

Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority staff came under fire from their own auditor general for misleading communications and a “breach of transparency” regarding cost overruns and delays on the $12.2 billion San Jose extension of the Bay Area Rapid Transit District. The project would extend BART, a commuter railway, through downtown San Jose into Santa

The Illinois Supreme Court Friday upheld pension consolidation legislation championed by Gov. JB Pritzker that was challenged in court by more than a dozen suburban and downstate police and firefighter pension funds.  The case, Arlington Heights Police Pension Fund et al. v. JB Pritzker et al., had pitted the governor and General Assembly against a

Federal transportation and housing funding will continue to flow until early March after Congress late Thursday passed a short-term appropriations bill a day ahead of a partial government shutdown. “There will not be a shutdown on Friday,” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. “Because both sides have worked together, the government will stay open.

Municipals were weaker Thursday amid another busy new-issue day while municipal bond mutual funds reported inflows. U.S. Treasuries yields rose and equities were up near the close. Muni yields rose up to eight basis points, depending on the scale, while UST yields rose up to six basis points at 30 years. The two-year muni-to-Treasury ratio

HilltopSecurities hired six former UBS professionals as part of a wider plan to expand its public finance footprint. “We remain committed to adding professionals nationwide to our public finance business who offer a full product solution set to their clients,” said Brad Winges, president of HilltopSecurities. “This is the first group of many hires that

A proposed bond-financed crude oil-transporting railway project in Utah lost a federal right-of-way permit in the wake of a 2023 court ruling. The U.S. Forest Service announced Wednesday it withdrew a 2022 permit allowing the Uinta Basin Railway’s construction and operation on about 12 miles of land in the Ashley National Forest.  The federal agency

Municipals faced rising yields in the secondary market Wednesday while large new-issues priced in the primary market. U.S. Treasuries were weaker again, and equities saw more losses. The Investment Company Institute Wednesday reported large inflows into municipal bond mutual funds for the week ending Jan. 10, with investors adding $2.066 billion to funds following $77

Munis were slightly weaker to start the holiday-shortened ahead of several large new issues, but the asset class outperformed U.S. Treasuries on the day. Equities saw losses. Muni yields were cut up to four basis points, depending on the scale, while UST yields rose eight to 11 basis points. Munis have “struggled to get out

The Federal Reserve should be able to “methodically and carefully” lower its interest rate target this year, if inflation continues to moderate, Federal Reserve Gov. Christopher Waller said Tuesday. “When the time is right to begin lowering rates, I believe it can and should be lowered methodically and carefully,” Waller said in a Brookings event.

Municipals were little changed ahead of a holiday-shortened week, while U.S. Treasuries were firmer 10 years and in and equities were mixed near the close. The muni market, as expected, has “remained in a sideways mode” so far in this year with muni-UST ratios grinding lower, said BofA Securities strategists in a weekly report. While

Puerto Rico Secretary of the Treasury and Chief Financial Officer Francisco Parés Alicea will resign effective Jan. 31. Gov. Pedro Pierluisi announced the resignation and said Nelson Pérez Méndez will serve as the interim Secretary of the Treasury. Pérez Méndez was deputy director of the Fiscal Agency and Financial Advisory Authority, focusing on the central

Washington state’s rating outlook was revised to positive from stable Thursday by S&P Global Ratings, citing the state’s growing economy and strong reserves. The outlook revision means there is a one-in-three chance the state could have its AA-plus rating upgraded to AAA by S&P over the two-year outlook period, said Oscar Padilla, an S&P director.

UBS has settled charges with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, agreeing to a censure and a $100,000 fine for failing to include the Non-Transaction Based Compensation indicator when reporting 91,059 municipal securities transactions to the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board. For this, UBS violated MSRB Rule G-14 on customer transaction reporting, which requires firms to report

First Eagle Investments has hired John Suh and Andrew Belsky as credit analysts as the firm continues to build out its high-yield team under Chief Investment Officer and high-yield manager John Miller. Suh, based in New York, previously was a trader/analyst on the high yield desk in JPMorgan’s public finance division. He was at JPMorgan

In September 2015, then Bank of England Governor Mark Carney gave a speech in which he famously referred to the “Tragedy of the Horizon.” He was referring to the fact that financial markets tend to mis-price climate risk because the perceived timing for such risk lies far into the future, beyond the normal investment horizon

The Chicago Board of Education on Wednesday saw its issuer rating and debt ratings from Moody’s Investors Service upgraded a notch, to Ba1 from Ba2 — still speculative grade, but one level below investment-grade status. The rating outlook remains positive after the upgrade. Moody’s cited improvements in Chicago Public Schools’ operating fund net cash balance,

Municipal bond insurance grew 10.4% year-over-year in 2023 leading to the highest market penetration rate since 2008, despite a drop in overall bond volume. While municipal issuance ended 2023 slightly down, demand for bond insurance continued to grow as market participants turned to it for investor confidence, increased market liquidity and enhanced credit ratings. The

The U.S. Virgin Islands government is short on cash for its operations and its governor is asking the legislature to borrow $55 million to cover them. Gov. Albert Bryan Jr. will send his financial team to a Virgin Islands Senate hearing next week to argue for a change in usage for a letter of credit