Bonds

Growth in U.S. prices is expected to ease in the year ahead, contacts surveyed in the Federal Reserve’s latest Beige Book said. “Selling prices increased at a modest or moderate pace in most districts, though many said that the pace of increases had slowed from that of recent reporting periods,” the Fed said Wednesday in

Beefed up disclosure and the resulting transparency promised by the contentious Financial Data Transparency Act is seen as necessary medicine by one of the industry’s big three credit rating agencies. “We think improved disclosures are beneficial for rating analysis and for the market,” said Jenny Poree, a senior director and sector lead for utilities at

Chicago’s Sales Tax Securitization Corp. will take retail orders Wednesday on a long-planned issue that prioritizes local buyers on the city’s first bonds to carry a social bond designation and gives special consideration for environmental, social, and governance investors. The STSC offers $305.3 million of tax-exempt paper in three series — including $98 million of

2022 was either a year to forget or a year to remember for a very long time, depending on your perspective. On one side, investors would want to erase from their memory last year’s historically poor market performance, the weakest in decades. Institutional investors would bemoan the massive fund outflows all year long. On the

Muni leaders are airing disagreements and concerns about the Financial Data Transparency Act and other recent developments, highlighting some long-simmering tensions over how issuers disclose information to the market. The multi-pronged discussion on FDTA and other hot topics occurred Thursday at the Richard Ravitch Public Finance Initiative Launch Symposium sponsored by the Volcker Alliance and

New York City’s $102.7 billion fiscal 2024 budget is balanced and maintains a record level of reserves while holding spending in check even as economic uncertainty casts a shadow over the city’s recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. Still analysts bemoaned the lack of additional monies for the rainy-day fund, especially with potential budgetary challenges from

Plans for a youth sports destination in Arizona to refinance its way out of financial trouble have yet to come to fruition, and the clock appears to be ticking. Bell Bank Park, which opened on schedule in January 2022 and publicly claims to be a smash success, with 4.3 million guests in its first year,

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board’s revenues took a hit in 2022, reflecting a tough year for the municipal bond business as underwriting fees fell sharply.  That’s according to the MSRB’s 2022 Annual Report, which showed the board’s total assets in 2022 drop to $68 million, down from $78.5 million in 2021 and $83.1 million in

A question mark looms large this year over whether hospitals and health systems will see sufficient recovery from 2022’s operating wounds to spare them from rating and outlook deterioration, rating agencies warn. The not-for-profit hospital sector suffered bruising margin wounds last year as it confronted inflationary costs along with ongoing supply-chain issues, labor shortages and

Municipals were a bit stronger Friday as traders geared up to see a rather healthy slate of new issues head to market during a holiday-shortened trading week. Volume for the upcoming week is estimated at $8.34 billion, consisting of $6.30 billion of negotiated deals and $2.04 billion of competitive sales. The biggest deal of the

Maine Gov. Janet Mills’ proposed biennial budget for fiscal years 2024-2025 seeks to continue a public infrastructure overhaul started in her first term without raising taxes or touching reserve accounts. Instead, it frees up billions in new infrastructure spending by taking advantage of the state’s unexpectedly high estimated revenue of $10.5 billion in addition to

Municipals were firmer Thursday as inflows into muni mutual funds returned and triple-A benchmarks continued to fall, underperforming a U.S. Treasury rally after the consumer price index report showed inflation is cooling. Equities ended up. The three-year muni-UST ratio was at 58%, the five-year at 62%, the 10-year at 68% and the 30-year at 91%,

Moody’s Investors Service upgraded southern New Jersey’s Cooper Health System to A3 from Baa1. The action affects about $312 million of debt. The outlook, previously positive, is stable at the new, higher rating. The upgrade comes as the nonprofit hospital operator, marketed as Cooper University Health Care, begins to carry out a $2 billion ten-year

Stern Brothers bolstered its underwriting bench with the addition of Alice Livingston in its Sacramento, California, office. Livingston joined the firm last week as a managing director. “Alice is a highly regarded industry professional with a track record of success delivering strategic financial and marketing solutions to clients,” Pepe Finn, Stern’s chief executive officer, said

Federal Reserve Bank of Boston President Susan Collins said she’s leaning toward supporting a quarter-point interest rate hike at the central bank’s next meeting ending Feb. 1 as officials near a peak in borrowing costs. Downshifting to a smaller move from the more aggressive rate increases the Fed rolled out last year would give officials

With inflation eroding real earnings, members of Puerto Rico’s House of Representatives want to reduce personal income taxes to give taxpayers some relief from inflation. The bill would require an annual adjustment for inflation to income levels required to trigger higher tax rates and the maximum amounts for certain deductions and exemptions, including for mortgage

Municipals were slightly firmer in spots, while U.S. Treasuries were weaker and equities ended up. The three-year muni-UST ratio was at 58%, the five-year at 61%, the 10-year at 66% and the 30-year at 89%, according to Refinitiv MMD’s final 3 p.m. ET read. ICE Data Services had the three at 58%, the five at

Texas is forecasting a record $32.7 billion budget surplus as a surge in sales taxes boosts the government’s revenue by billions more than what analysts had estimated.  The expected surplus, also called a cash carryover balance, is the largest on record for the Lone Star State and 21% more than the $27 billion forecast in July, Comptroller

South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster’s $36 billion budget proposal for fiscal year 2024 seeks to raise capital spending without adding debt and bolster reserves. McMaster told lawmakers in a letter last week he wants to take full advantage of the state’s unexpected $3.8 billion budget surplus ahead of a potential recession. “South Carolina’s booming economy

Public finance banking industry veteran Sean Boyea has joined Siebert Williams Shank & Co. as a managing director in Sacramento. Boyea brings more than three decades of public finance experience to the minority- and women-owned heavyweight, and will launch its office in California’s state capital. “SWS has a rich history for being opportunistic during economic