Bonds

Municipals were little changed Friday ahead of a smaller new-issue calendar, outperforming a weaker U.S. Treasury market for another session. Equities ended up. Triple-A yields were mostly flat while UST yields rose up to nine basis points on the front end, pushing muni to UST ratios there lower. The two-year muni-Treasury ratio Friday was at
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A lawyer for the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority bondholders argued Thursday that if a receiver had been in place early on in the PREPA bankruptcy process, they would have controlled him or her and therefore raised rates to repay bonds in full. Assured Guaranty Attorney Mark Ellenberg argued that to be the case in
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Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority bondholders say they are owed $8.5 billion and the timeframe of being able to collect on their claim should continue in perpetuity. That was a central point of contention during Tuesday’s PREPA bond claim estimation hearing during which lawyers for the bondholders and the Oversight Board argued about what the
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Connecticut lawmakers approved a $51.1 billion budget that cuts personal income-tax rates for the first time in almost 30 years, while increasing spending on education and housing. “We are delivering the largest cut to Connecticut’s income tax rates in state history,” Gov. Ned Lamont said in a press release Tuesday. The tax cut will benefit
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House Republicans on Tuesday sharply criticized responses from the Federal Reserve and the Department of Treasury, taking the agencies to task for rate hikes that they said damaged the municipal and other markets, thwarted transparency, and cracked the banking system.     The comments came during a House Financial Services Committee hearing on Tuesday. The discussions included
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The recent failures of regional banks is emboldening Washington’s administrative state to double down on regulation. Regulators across the city are rushing to write new rules to further inject Washington’s central planners into the functioning of our capital markets.  The American Securities Association, which I run, recently sent a letter to the Washington bureaucracy with
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The Austin City Council on Thursday approved an $88 million settlement with an airport terminal operator that will allow a largely bond-financed expansion and development program at the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport to move forward with a midfield concourse project.  The settlement paid with airport revenue will end litigation against the city by LoneStar Airport Holdings,
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AES Puerto Rico, a firm that supplies about 21% of the electricity transmitted by the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority, defaulted Thursday, missing an $18 million interest and principal payment on outstanding municipals it priced through a conduit in 2000. In a notice to the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board’s EMMA site on Friday, AES Puerto
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Massachusetts state senators approved a $56 billion budget for the fiscal year 2024 last week, forwarding along for final debate a package that preserves many of the central features of Gov. Maura Healey’s landmark tax relief package. Senators followed in step with their counterparts in Massachusetts’ House in approving a package along the lines of
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Two Missouri-based hospital operators, BJC HealthCare and Saint Luke’s Health System, are the latest to join the trend of large-system mergers. The two signed a letter of intent to form an integrated not-for-profit Missouri-based health system Wednesday. The systems will work to reach a definitive agreement “in the coming months” with a closing anticipated by the
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