Though the fortunes of state pension plans made a 180-degree turn as the stock market fell this year, only a handful appear to be at risk of insolvency over the next few decades. “Most public plans are fragile, not distressed,” said Anthony Randazzo, executive director of Equable, a bipartisan non-profit that works with public retirement
Bonds
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell recently sold more than $1 million of municipal bonds issued by various entities across the U.S. as tough new ethics rules took effect for central bank officials in the wake of a trading scandal last year. The 22 separate transactions on June 30, with a total value ranging from about
All municipal bond insurers wrapped $18.306 billion in the first half of 2022, a decrease from the $20.842 billion of deals done in the first six months of 2021, according to Refinitiv data, but the overall insured market rate was 8.8%, higher than the 8.4% for the first half of 2021. The figures align with the
The Biden Administration will host a summit this fall to help cities and states in line for federal infrastructure funds avoid the tangle of red tape that is known to stall American projects. As funds begin to flow from the $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the government is eyeing ways to manage issues
The Puerto Rico Oversight Board said it opposes a just-enacted law that walks back some pro-employer rules put in place five years ago and demanded the governor suspend enforcement of it, arguing it will harm economic growth and island revenues. Gov. Pedro Pierluisi rejected the board’s request to publicly announce suspension of Act 41’s enforcement,
The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board will continue its efforts to improve post-trade transparency, as it plans to discuss a potential request for comment on Rule G-47 on time of trade disclosures during its quarterly meeting July 27-28. “The Board will discuss the status of its ongoing retrospective rule review and consider authorizing a new request
Municipals were steady to firmer in spots in lighter secondary trading amid an active primary while U.S. Treasuries were range-bound and equities were in the black. Muni to UST ratios were at 62% in five years, 80% in 10 years and 95% in 30 years, according to Refinitiv MMD’s 3 p.m. read. ICE Data Services
Hospitals will need to raise rates, cut costs and implement “transformational” change to combat inflationary-driven pressures that are damaging margins and setting back the sector’s COVID-19 pandemic recovery, according to a Fitch Ratings report. “Not-for-profit hospital operating margins, which declined during the pandemic, will see further erosion due to ongoing inflationary pressures of elevated labor,
Climate mitigation efforts in cities with high risks of flooding will pay less in bond and insurance premiums if measures are taken to curb such activity. That’s according to a recent paper by Anya Nakhmurina, assistant professor of accounting at Yale School of Management and Shirley Lu, assistant professor at Harvard Business School’s accounting and
Fresh off a whirlwind of visits to investors and meetings with rating agencies, Florida officials are confident the state’s finances will remain in good shape no matter what the future holds. In a yearly deep dive into its finances, Florida officials met with analysts at Moody’s Investors Service, S&P Global Ratings and Fitch Ratings as
Despite resolving the largest bankruptcy in municipal market history, issues with the local government and questions over economic growth cloud Puerto Rico’s future, analysts and Oversight Board officials say. The Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act helped restructure Puerto Rico’s debt and made some progress in budget reform, Center for a New Economy
Municipals were steady to weaker in spots Tuesday as the $800-million-plus general obligation bond deal from the state of Washington took focus in the primary. U.S. Treasuries were weaker and equities rallied. Triple-A yields rose a basis point while UST saw yields rise again, as much as five to six, with larger losses on the
Municipal bond fund flows have a direct impact on borrowing decisions made by issuers held in the fund, argues an academic paper presented Tuesday at Brookings Municipal Finance Conference that sheds light on the little-studied question. But the relationship may appear less clear in the real-world experiences of some market participants. The impact, if any,
Final financing deals are nearly complete for two long-planned commuter rail projects billed as transformational for the Northwest Indiana corridor that sits in the shadow of Chicago along the Lake Michigan shoreline. Both Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District projects achieved major milestones in June. The Indiana Finance Authority closed on a $203.3 million federal Railroad
Local governments plan to spend the majority of their Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act funds on roads, with water and broadband projects also getting high priority. That’s according to a joint survey by the National League of Cities and Polco, in which 82% of respondents said they intended to spend federal dollars on roads, bridges
A ballot initiative that would have raised taxes on wealthy Californians to fund pandemic prevention and public health programs will appear on the 2024 ballot. Max Henderson, the startup investor who led efforts, told California Healthline they delayed the measure, because concerns about COVID-19 are being crowded out by economic pressures. “Our goal was to
A heat wave blasting Texas and other states is not shaping up to be a hot-weather version of 2021’s Winter Storm Uri and its days-long blackouts, according to Fitch Ratings. Summer capacity constraints and rolling blackouts, should they happen, “are not viewed as a near-term risk to U.S. public power and electric cooperative credit quality,”
The Dormitory Authority of the State of New York headlined the top 10 issuers of the first half of 2022, almost all of which outperformed their par amounts year-over-year. Five new issuers entered the top 10, two of which did not sell debt in the first half of 2021. The five issuers who fell out
The top municipal underwriters accounted for $199.247 billion in 4,650 issues in the first half of 2022, down from the $222.640 billion in 6,201 transactions during last year’s first half. BofA Securities remained in the top spot — underwriting $24.528 billion of deals — despite accounting for considerably fewer transactions and market share than the
Transcription:Chip Barnett: (00:03)Hi and welcome to another Bond Buyer podcast. I’m Chip Barnett. My guest today is Tom Wright. He’s the president and chief executive officer of the Regional Plan Association. The Regional Plan Association is the nation’s oldest independent metropolitan research planning and advocacy organization. The RPA is a private nonprofit corporation, which aims