Bonds

Municipals were steady to slightly firmer in spots while the primary market took focus with at least 17 deals over the $100 million market hitting the screens led by billion-dollar-plus pricings from Washington, D.C., and Illinois. The New York City TFA priced $1.5 billion for retail investors and Chicago accelerated a pricing of water revenue

Texas Children’s Hospital, which was hit with rating downgrades this summer in the wake of operating losses, is moving ahead with an approximately $222 million revenue bond sale this week.  The tax-exempt, fixed-rate debt issued through the Harris County Cultural Education Facilities Finance Corp. is scheduled to price Thursday. Proceeds are earmarked for capital projects

When Citi shuttered its storied public finance division in December, nearly all of the firm’s roughly 120 bankers quickly landed new positions in the municipal market. But banker Archana Chandrasekhar hit the pause button for several months and ended up veering off in a fresh direction. “I was so busy for 16 years that I

Atlanta’s issuer default rating, general obligation, and guaranteed bonds were raised to AAA by Fitch Rating from AA-plus, based on the implementation of the rater’s updated criteria. Fitch also upgraded its rating to AAA from AA-plus on the Atlanta Downtown Development Authority, Atlanta Urban Residential Finance Authority, Atlanta Urban Redevelopment Agency and Atlanta Public Safety

Don Rice, the chairman and CEO of Rice Financial Products Co., originally saw his future heading into a career in engineering before he changed course and started his own derivatives boutique in the early 1990s.  “It’s not nearly as significant a change as one might think,” Rice said. “Engineering is a quantitative business. For the

Texas public school districts launched a new school year based in some cases on shaky budgets with depleted reserves as they cope with increasing costs, a state per-pupil allotment that hasn’t risen since 2019, and the expiration of federal pandemic relief funding. Still, the overall credit quality for the more than 300 Texas school districts

Efforts by Muni Pride to align with other public finance affinity groups are reaping dividends for the group, which has grown to more than 100 individuals since its inception in 2019. The California-based national LGBTQ+ networking group will host its next event Oct. 1 in New York City. Connecticut State Treasurer Erick Russell will offer

Municipals were little changed Monday as U.S. Treasuries were mixed and equities were in the black. As the market awaits the onslaught of new-issuance, muni underperformance to USTs continues from last week’s moves. “As USTs were rallying, dealers noted slightly better volumes but continued to report a slow grind as accounts are eyeing the heavy

Former Puerto Rico Chamber of Commerce President Cameron McKenzie will join the Puerto Rico Oversight Board. President Joe Biden said Friday he will appoint McKenzie and reappoint current members Andrew Biggs and John Nixon. The Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act requires at least one of the seven board members reside on the

Local water authorities in California’s Central Valley are not happy with environmental regulations being imposed by the Biden Administration.  “Our Central Valley is the backbone of our nation’s food supply, yet unreliable water allocations and overreaching regulations continue to hurt our farmers and our community,” said Rep. John Duarte R – Calif.  ”We can do better,

Piper Sandler has hired Joe Kinder and Brent Blevins as managing directors on its public finance team. Both will focus on Missouri school districts and governmental issuers and will co-head the Missouri public finance business for the investment bank. They both previously were managing directors at Stifel. “The K-12 sector is a meaningful part of

The District of Columbia is kicking off this fall’s deal closing season with a negotiated $1.6 billion issuance of tax-exempt general obligation bonds expected to generate a lot of demand and also includes a tranche refunding outstanding Build America Bonds. “I would view this as a potential core holding for almost any municipal portfolio,” said

Bart Livolsi, whose 45-year career in public finance included thousands of financings that touched nearly every corner of the country, is proud of the physical infrastructure those billions of bonds built. For Livolsi, who spent 36 of those years at Citigroup beginning at its predecessor, Smith Barney, said the value of the municipal bond market

Massachusetts’ general obligation bond sale Thursday was the fourth time this year the commonwealth has tapped the municipal bond market. The state treasurer’s office said it was happy with the deal’s performance, although the high supply during a busy week in the primary was evident in the final spreads.  “At this point, you’re at the

Municipal and U.S. Treasury markets improved Friday after a weak jobs report sent investors fleeing equities in a flight-to-quality trade. While the employment report did not settle the 25 or 50 basis point rate cut argument, economists said, it did cause the UST 2s/10s to de-invert.  “While stocks are selling off, we are witnessing a

The Jackson Hospital & Clinic in Montgomery, Alabama, has named a chief restructuring officer in the aftermath of a bond payment default. Allen Wilen, partner at Eisner Advisory Group, will be the chief restructuring officer bond trustee UMB Bank, N.A., announced Thursday after the hospital failed to make a bond payment Tuesday. UMB believes there

Speaking Thursday to the Economic Club of New York, former President Donald Trump proposed the creation of a U.S. sovereign wealth fund to pay for infrastructure projects. “We’ll create America’s own sovereign wealth fund to invest in great national endeavors for the benefit of all of the American people,” Trump said. “Why don’t we have

The judge overseeing the bankruptcy for Puerto Rico’s government-owned electric utility continued a pause on litigation related to the case as the power provider and its creditors negotiate a possible debt-cutting deal.  U.S. District Court Judge Laura Taylor Swain extended for an additional 30 days the litigation stay through Oct. 8 and ordered the parties

The employment report did not settle the 25 or 50 basis point rate cut argument, economists said, as it offered a mixed bag, with lower-than-expected jobs added and downward revisions to previous months’ numbers, while earnings grew and the unemployment rate dipped. Nonfarm payrolls rose 142,000 in August, less than the 165,000 expected, while the

Siebert Williams Shank has brought on Lori Ciraolo to further strengthen its taxable fixed-income team. Ciraolo, who spent more than 17 years at Goldman Sachs, has been hired as a senior vice president in corporate and municipal short-term securities to help expand SWS’ taxable muni franchise through commercial paper trading. “It’s a hybrid role between

The metropolitan regions of Los Angeles and San Francisco are vastly different, but face some similar challenges as they emerge from the post-pandemic social framework. Those challenges include lost ridership on both cities transit systems, vacancies in commercial real estate and balancing budgets as COVID-19 recovery money peels off. The challenges faced by the regions