Bonds

Eric Adams has about a month before his Jan. 1 swearing in as New York mayor to prepare for his first budget presentation. While he inherits a city with roughly $15 billion in multiple rounds of emergency federal funding, better-than-expected revenue and diminished outyear budget gaps, a raft of fiscal variables will confront him at

Mark Zehner has retired from his position as deputy chief of the Office of Municipal Securities and Public Pensions Unit at the Securities and Exchange Commission after almost 25 years with the regulator, passing the torch to Rebecca Olsen, former director of the office of municipal securities. Zehner’s last day with the Commission was Nov.

The Bay Area Toll Authority’s plans to price $1.3 billion in toll bridge revenue bonds next week are expected to see robust demand, even as the seven-bridge system sees a softer pandemic recovery than other tollway credits in the U.S. Lead managers BofA Securities, Citi and JP Morgan, along with co-manager Goldman Sachs & Co.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has named Ernesto A. Lanza as the new acting director for the Office of Municipal Securities. The announcement of the appointment came after Rebecca Olsen’s move from director to deputy chief became public following the retirement of longtime regulator and former deputy chief Mark Zehner. “I look forward to working

After a full seven trading sessions of volatility in U.S. Treasuries and equities, municipals ended Friday quiet, little changed, and again ignored the moves in other markets. Treasuries saw yields fall and equities sold off on lower-than-expected employment figures while triple-A municipal benchmark yields were steady to firmer by a basis point in spots. This

The U.S. toll road sector is expected to continue its upward trajectory in 2022, as median tolled traffic and revenue growth are slated to exceed 2% and 4%, respectively. That’s according to Moody’s Investors Service’s U.S. toll road report released on Dec. 2nd. Toll road traffic saw its steepest ever decline in 2020 as a

Municipals continued to cut their own path and were little changed with a few large deals taking the focus again Thursday even as U.S. Treasury yields rose and equities rallied. Stocks rose on optimism the latest COVID variant “won’t completely upend economic activity,” said Edward Moya, senior market analyst at OANDA. “The next couple of

California is well-positioned to qualify for the plethora of federal broadband infrastructure money available through the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill, according to Sen. Alex Padilla and others who spoke during an online event Tuesday. California Forward and California Emerging Technology Fund hosted the online webinar with Padilla, D-Calif., and several other speakers. The topic: what

Municipals were mostly steady throughout the day and the primary was the focus while U.S. Treasuries whipsawed and stocks sold off after the first Omicron case was reported in California. The Investment Company Institute reported $974 million of inflows into municipal bond mutual funds and another round of small outflows from exchange-traded funds. Treasuries ended

Puerto Rico’s General Fund net revenues came in 17.4% ahead of Oversight Board projections in the first quarter of the fiscal year. Revenues measured on an accrual basis were also 10.4% ahead of the first quarter of the prior fiscal year, according to data released by the Puerto Rico Treasury. Puerto Rico Secretary of the

Municipals were stronger Tuesday as U.S. Treasuries rallied and stocks sold off on Omicron variant concerns and Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s comments on speeding up tapering the Fed’s bond buying sooner than originally expected. It is appropriate to “consider ramping up tapering” and it will be discussed at the next FOMC meeting, when more

The House is expected to unveil as soon Tuesday a measure to extend government funding into early 2022 as current funding is set to expire Friday. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen separately has warned the U.S. may hit its debt ceiling as soon as Dec. 15, putting pressure on lawmakers to raise or suspending the ceiling

Municipals were little changed Monday while U.S. Treasuries pared back some of Friday’s gains and equities rebounded as markets generally calmed after initial Omicron fears were digested. Economists don’t appear to be too concerned about the latest COVID-19 variant. “Even if Omicron causes another pandemic wave, it is more likely to slow rather than interrupt

With the recent passage of infrastructure legislation in Washington, I am reminded how important the tax-exempt municipal market is to our nation’s ability to finance infrastructure through the multitude of municipal issuers across the country. At the same time, I am perplexed as to why municipal market issuance has been stuck in the range of

Shortly after her swearing in as Boston mayor, Michelle Wu acted on her signature campaign theme, free transit rides. Sidestepping the state-run Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, Wu asked the City Council to approve the use of $8 million in federal rescue funding to expand a pilot program for two more years, to backstop rides on

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed two executive orders laying the groundwork to speed up lead service line replacement and road and bridge spending once the state begins receiving its share of the $1.2 trillion federal infrastructure package. Michigan is set to receive about $10 billion over five years from the package signed by President Biden,

Municipals strengthened as much as three basis points on Friday as Treasuries rose in a flight-to-safety bid while stock prices plunged on fears that a coronavirus resurgence could derail the economic recovery in the U.S. and around the world. “With the news out of the World Health Organization that a new and powerful COVID variant

If the Build Back Better legislation under consideration in the Senate becomes law, the cash would start to flow in late 2022 and peak in 2025. In reports released this week, Moody’s Investors Service and Fitch Ratings outlined the expected cash flow of the bill and its impact on the fiscal and economic position of

The Puerto Rico bankruptcy judge is likely to approve the Oversight Board-proposed Plan of Adjustment or something close to it this winter, observers and analysts say. While participants hoped the plan would be effective by Dec. 15 (a deadline in the bondholder Plan Support Agreement), on Nov. 17 the U.S. Attorney General asked for a

Former U.S. Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers said Federal Reserve policy makers are signaling a “new era” in which they recognize the U.S. economy is overheating as inflation runs at its fastest in three decades. Speaking on Bloomberg Television, Summers said that Fed Chairman Jerome Powell and Gov. Lael Brainard this week used rhetoric that “portends