Bonds

Hawaii Gov. Josh Green highlighted $373 million of infrastructure and housing spending in his supplemental fiscal 2025 budget, calling it his administration’s top statewide priority during his State of the State speech. He also renewed a call for a climate change impact fee expected to collect $50 million that he said would have helped cover

Municipals were weaker in spots amid an active primary market that saw a billion-dollar-plus retail order from the Regents of the University of California price and Washington sell just shy of $1 billion general obligation bonds in the competitive market. U.S. Treasury yields rose and equities were mixed near the close. The two-year muni-to-Treasury ratio

Capital Markets Advisors and its two co-principals Richard Ganci and Richard Tortora, former municipal advisors for the City of Rochester, New York, are in a legal back and forth with the Securities and Exchange Commission over whether the municipal advisor’s conduct constitutes a conflict of interest as defined in MSRB Rule G-42. That’s the latest

Municipals were mixed Monday ahead of a heavy new-issue slate while U.S. Treasuries were better and equities saw smaller gains after last week’s record-breaking moves. Munis continue to struggle in 2024, with the asset class seeing negative returns of 1.01% so far this year. This is a turnaround “from the last quarter of 2023 in

Allan Katz has been named chief financial officer at Siebert Williams Shank, the firm announced on Monday. Katz comes to Siebert from Guggenheim Securities, where he was also CFO. Katz is well known for guiding operational improvement and expense control in the financial services sector, the firm said.  Guggenheim Securities is a FINRA-regulated broker-dealer. Katz was there

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.

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

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

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

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

William “Bill” Edward Laverty, 72, died in Vero Beach, Florida, Dec. 18, 2023. He died of natural causes several years after being diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia. Mr. Laverty spent most of his life living and working in New York City as a municipal bond underwriter for several Wall Street firms. Mr. Laverty worked as a

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

Jennifer Fredericks, a sales director at market data platform SOLVE, will lead Women in Public Finance’s board of directors in 2024, the organization recently announced. Women in Public Finance, a professional networking group for women working in the public finance sector, is about advancing women in sector, including helping them find jobs, putting together education

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

Cities and states have joined a chorus of critics urging federal regulators to revise or halt proposed capital requirements for large banks dubbed the Basel III endgame. In a letter filed Tuesday ahead of the Jan. 16 public comment deadline, the Government Finance Officers Association joined with six other municipal market industry groups in laying

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 Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board has filed its amendments to Rule G-14 on customer transaction reporting with the Securities and Exchange Commission, moving to bring the current 15-minute window for reporting trades to the MSRB down to one minute with exceptions for manual trades and smaller firms with limited municipal trading activity. The proposal now

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 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,

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