Bonds

Rockefeller Asset Management added three new portfolio managers to bolster its municipal investment strategies within in its fixed income division, the firm announced Monday. Scott Cottier, Mark DeMitry and Michael Camarella will join Rockefeller from Invesco, where they managed the California Value Municipal Income Trust and the Trust for Investment Grade New York Municipals. They

Healthy reserves and plans to increase permanent funds to mitigate revenue fluctuations earned Wyoming a positive outlook from S&P Global Ratings. S&P affirmed the state’s AA issuer credit rating, which now has a one-in-three chance of being upgraded over the next two years, as a result of the the positive outlook being elevated from stable,

The Inflation Reduction Act has paved the way for broader participation in affordable housing and a renewed focus by developers on sustainability, panelists at Baker Tilly’s 2024 DevelUP conference said this week. One panelist called the 2022 law “the largest opportunity to build foundational generational wealth that you will experience,” and others praised the tax

A contentious rule proposal has a host of broker-dealer and investment firms calling for a rewrite as the effects on the municipal bond market portend calamity.  “Overall, we recommend that the rules in general be reconsidered and ideally rewritten,” said Susan Joyce, head of muni trading & FI market structure, AllianceBernstein. “We definitely see a

When it comes to issuing municipal bonds in Louisiana, state Treasurer John Fleming like things just the way they are. Fleming is pushing back against a proposal in the state Legislature that would make changes to the way the state Bond Commission oversees the issuance of debt by cities, counties and local governments and entities.

On Tuesday, global law firm Nixon Peabody LLP released the names of newly minted partners and counsels who have arrived at the next level in their public finance career.  According to the firm, “Nearly 80% of the new partners are members of historically underrepresented groups at the partnership level in the legal profession, which aligns

Norton Rose Fulbright has hired public-private partnership and infrastructure attorney Patrick Harder to co-head the firm’s U.S. and North America infrastructure groups. Harder joins Norton Rose after 20 years at Nossaman LLP, where he was a leader in the U.S. P3 space and was partner and chair of the infrastructure group. He will co-chair Norton’s

A small Kansas city took the initial step last week that could lead to the issuance of sales tax and revenue (STAR) bonds for a development featuring a Mattel toy-themed amusement park. The proposal came before the Bonner Springs City Council in the wake of the first-ever default on STAR bonds in the state and

President Joe Biden signaled tentative federal support for a long-struggling high-speed train between Dallas and Houston using Japanese technology during a meeting last week with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. Opponents of the controversial proposal, meanwhile, have urged the Department of Justice to investigate the project’s owner, Texas Central Partners LLC, for violations of the

Florida is coming to market early this week with a $1.5 billion taxable bond sale to bulk up the state’s Hurricane Catastrophe Fund. The State Board of Administration Finance Corp. is planning to issue $1.5 billion of taxable revenue bonds in two maturities. “We convened with the underwriting group today and signed off on what

Municipals were mixed Thursday in secondary trading as focus shifted to California’s nearly $1.5 billion of tax-exempt and taxable general obligation bond deals in the competitive market while U.S. Treasuries were weaker out long after Wednesday’s short-end selloff and equities were in the black at the close. Triple-A yield curves saw a mix of bumps

Municipals were weaker, but outperformed a large U.S. Treasury selloff that hit the short end the hardest and pushed the 10-year well over 4.5% after a hot inflation report showed Fed rate cuts would be pushed further out. Equities sold off as well. “The news is sparking an equity market selloff while sending bond yields

Federal Reserve policymakers “generally favored” slowing the pace at which they’re shrinking the central bank’s asset portfolio by roughly half, minutes from their latest gathering showed. The record of the March 19-20 Federal Open Market Committee meeting also showed “almost all” officials judged it would be appropriate to begin lowering borrowing costs “at some point”

We are at the initial stages of a major paradigm shift that has significant implications for the municipal market over the next five to 10 years. A number of societal mega-trends will present material challenges for the municipal market. These include climate change, growing federal debt, shrinkage of the workforce, the impact of remote work,

States and municipalities across the United States are continuing to invest in Israel bonds as the war between the state of Israel and Hamas spills over into its seventh month. Since war broke out after the U.S-designated terrorist organization Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, over $1.639 billion of Israel bonds have been sold to

California lawmakers fine-tuned their March budget proposal, cutting spending by $17.3 billion ahead of formal discussions to get a head start on difficult decisions amid a record deficit. Gov. Gavin Newsom, Senate President Pro Tempore Mike McGuire and Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas announced they reached an agreement Thursday, providing specifics about how they plan to

Asbestos. Lead. Temperatures that reach 115 degrees. Cracks in the ceiling so big you can see the sky. All of these have been found in Pennsylvania’s public schools.  Pennsylvania lawmakers toured schools around the commonwealth last year, and what they found was “nothing short of shameful,” according to State Representative Peter Schweyer.  “I was touring

With tax season in full swing, the muni market is underperforming and facing selling pressure as investors move out of short-term paper to pay tax blls. However, these dynamics have not made the asset class an undesirable option for investors and most expect demand to remain strong. Munis are returning negative 0.06% month-to-date, while USTs

A Colorado bonding authority is taking a step toward purchasing a hotel tied to author Stephen King’s The Shining after an Arizona nonprofit dropped its bond-financed plan to buy and renovate the property.  The Colorado Educational and Cultural Facilities Authority (CECFA), which would have been the conduit issuer for up to $475 million of cultural

Stadium financing, a cap on local lease revenue bonds, and an effort to preserve the state’s largest coal-fired power plant were some of the measures signed last week by Utah Gov. Spencer Cox. The Republican-controlled legislature ended its session March 1, passing a $29.4 billion budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1, as