Bonds

Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland President Loretta Mester said Friday’s jobs report didn’t change her view that the labor market remains strong, and that further interest-rate hikes will depend on additional incoming data. “The inflation rate is still too high, the level of inflation remains high, but at least we’re seeing progress on it,” Mester

The muni market may be several years away from fully integrating artificial intelligence, but firms are taking small steps already. “AI is a big deal if you want to personalize your approach, differentiate your products,” James Pruskowski, chief investment officer of 16Rock Asset Management, said during MuniTech NYC, a conference hosted by Munichain and Spline

Enjoy complimentary access to top ideas and insights — selected by our editors. Peter Hayes, one of the most well-known and influential people in the municipal bond industry, plans to relax and enjoy life with his family and friends after he retires early next year. “I’ll be 65 next year — and I didn’t think

North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper is leading a state delegation to Japan next week to attend the Southeastern United States/Japan (SEUS/Japan) economic development conference in Tokyo. The trip, from Oct. 11 to 15, aims to entice businesses to move to the state. The delegation will also meet with officials and business leaders. “Japan is a

Municipals were weaker along with U.S. Treasuries Friday following better-than-expected jobs data while equities rallied on the data. The September non-farm payrolls report dashed any suggestions that the labor market is weakening, but analysts still debate whether the Federal Reserve will need to raise rates again. In addition to 336,000 jobs being created in the

The largest health-care strike in U.S. history hit Kaiser Permanente Wednesday, putting investors who buy and sell hospital bonds on edge as an industry that’s already experienced more than its share of distress struggles to stabilize financially. Kaiser has almost $4 billion in outstanding municipal-bond debt, according to Bloomberg data, including $1 billion in so-called

Municipals were steady Thursday while the final large deals of the week priced in the primary. U.S. Treasuries were mostly firmer and equities were in the red ahead of the Friday payrolls data release. “The last labor market reading before the [non-farm payrolls] report provided another reminder that the labor market is still strong,” said

A year after the launch of Arizona’s universal school voucher program, the state is still trying to get a handle on its cost and accountability. This comes as several states enacted laws this year to help fund students at private schools or who are homeschooled, with Texas teed up to consider the move in a

An attorney for a Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority bondholders group raised concerns Wednesday about an Oversight Board mailing to bondholders asking them to support its plan of adjustment, which would result in them getting a better deal than non-supporting bondholders. PREPA Ad Hoc Group attorney Eric Brunstad Jr. said at Wednesday’s Puerto Rico omnibus

A bankrupt Arizona participant sports venue received no qualified bids by last week’s deadline, although other parties are interested in purchasing the venue as the financing to keep it operating nears its end.  A filing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Arizona late Tuesday on behalf of Legacy Cares, the venue’s owner, said no bids that

Munis were weaker Tuesday, but outperformed a U.S. Treasury selloff. Equities sold off as well. Triple-A yields rose anywhere from two to eight basis points while UST saw yields rise by as much as 13 basis points out long. The two-year muni-to-Treasury ratio Tuesday was at 72%, the three-year was at 72%, the five-year at

The agency that manages Chicago’s convention center campus wades into the market this week with a deal that continues its trend of pushing off looming bond payments to manage a persistent mismatch between its revenues and its debt service schedule. The Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority of Illinois is set to price $56.2 million of

A group of Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority bondholders opposed to the Oversight Board’s proposed plan of adjustment identified its members Wednesday. The new faction, called the PREPA Ad Hoc Group, holds $2.1 billion in uninsured PREPA bonds and hundreds of millions of dollars more in insured bonds. $8.5 billion of PREPA bonds were outstanding

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board dives into FY 2024 with a new budget of $47 million, a 4.8% increase from the previous year. The board kicks off the year with a new request for comment on Rule G-12 on uniform practice, a step towards their goal of retiring 20% of their total interpretive guidance, in

A pair of Texas Congressmen are urging the Federal Railroad Administration to reject joint grant applications by Amtrak and railroad company Texas Central to build high-speed rail between Dallas and Houston. Republicans Rep. Jake Ellzey and Rep. Michael McCaul sent a Sept. 28 letter to the FRA outlining their opposition to the controversial project. The

California Democratic leaders are asking the state Supreme Court to remove a business-backed measure from the November ballot that would require voter approval for any increase in state or local taxes. Senate President Pro Tempore Toni Atkins, D-San Diego and Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas, D-Hollister, filed an emergency petition with the state Supreme Court Tuesday

September municipal bond issuance rose slightly year-over-year, becoming the first month of 2023 to see supply increase from 2022 levels, as several billion-dollar deals were priced and a general market acceptance of the Fed’s ‘higher for longer’ stance took hold. Led by tax-exempt, new-money deals, September’s total volume ticked up 1.2% to $27.585 billion in

After selling off for a week and a half, munis ended Friday’s session firmer, but September losses moved the asset class into the red for the year, returning -1.79%. “September and to a lesser degree October have not been kind to municipal investors in recent history, with average returns of -5.7% and -1.8%, respectively, going

Spartanburg, South Carolina, will soon be home to another city’s minor league baseball team with the help of the city’s largest-ever economic development package. Spartanburg’s city council approved a $425 million public-private partnership development deal on Tuesday, anchored on a new 3,500-seat minor league baseball stadium officials said will help revitalize the city’s downtown area.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board has requested comment on draft amendments to Rule G-12 on uniform practice, in efforts to codify, retire and reorganize 40 pieces of interpretive guidance related to interdealer confirmations. The move will aid the MSRB in its goal of retiring approximately 20% of its body of interpretive guidance, much of which