Bonds

Puerto Rico Secretary of the Treasury and Chief Financial Officer Francisco Parés Alicea will resign effective Jan. 31. Gov. Pedro Pierluisi announced the resignation and said Nelson Pérez Méndez will serve as the interim Secretary of the Treasury. Pérez Méndez was deputy director of the Fiscal Agency and Financial Advisory Authority, focusing on the central

Municipals were little changed ahead of a holiday-shortened week, while U.S. Treasuries were firmer 10 years and in and equities were mixed near the close. The muni market, as expected, has “remained in a sideways mode” so far in this year with muni-UST ratios grinding lower, said BofA Securities strategists in a weekly report. While

UBS has settled charges with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, agreeing to a censure and a $100,000 fine for failing to include the Non-Transaction Based Compensation indicator when reporting 91,059 municipal securities transactions to the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board. For this, UBS violated MSRB Rule G-14 on customer transaction reporting, which requires firms to report

The U.S. Virgin Islands government is short on cash for its operations and its governor is asking the legislature to borrow $55 million to cover them. Gov. Albert Bryan Jr. will send his financial team to a Virgin Islands Senate hearing next week to argue for a change in usage for a letter of credit

The Biden administration Wednesday announced $623 million for cities and states to help build a national electric vehicle charging station network, a prominent piece of the president’s infrastructure agenda that so far has been off to a slow start. The grants mark the first round of funding from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act’s $2.5

Municipals continued to experience a short-end correction Wednesday amid a busy day in the primary market which saw Jefferson County, Alabama’s, mega sewer refunding deal price along with a billion-plus of Massachusetts GOs offered to retail. U.S. Treasuries were slightly weaker out long and equities were in the black near the close. The municipal AAA

The Federal Reserve, financial markets, the upcoming election and artificial intelligence took center stage on Tuesday as roughly 1,300 members of Chicago’s business community crowded into a packed ballroom for the Executives’ Club of Chicago’s Annual Economic Outlook panel.  Quoting Warren Buffett, Charlie Munger and Voltaire, the panelists made their predictions for 2024 and shared

The U.S. District Court’s interpretation gave more to Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority bondholders than legally allowed, the Puerto Rico Oversight Board told the First Circuit Court of Appeals. Not only are the bondholders wrong in claiming a lien on all revenues coming to PREPA but District Judge Laura Taylor Swain was wrong in awarding

The Governmental Accounting Standards Board has issued new guidance requiring governments to disclose information related to their own vulnerability, asking governments to disclose certain heightened risks related to concentrations and constraints in government revenue sources and defines those terms to help them do that. “It was in 2020 that we started this project and we

Munis were weaker Monday ahead of a $9 billion new-issue slate and the first full week of 2024 while U.S. Treasury yields fell and equities ended up. Munis “continue to be expensive when compared to Treasuries, falling well below the average of 85% for 10-year munis,” said Jason Wong, vice president of municipals at AmeriVet

The state of Illinois is preparing to issue $600 million in new Build Illinois junior sales tax revenue bonds — 2024 Series A, B and C — in a competitive auction next week.  “Illinois enters the market as cash needs for projects arise,” said Olivia Kuncio, senior deputy press secretary to Gov. JB Pritzker. Rebuild

Continued financial pressure will impact the nonprofit healthcare system in 2024, Fitch Ratings and S&P Global Ratings analysts said Thursday. “We think we have another tough year ahead of us,” Fitch Senior Director Kevin Holloran said during a webinar. Despite some positives, such as an increase in demand, labor costs remain a major problem for

David Elgart, former president and chief compliance officer of the now defunct Roswell, Georgia-based Sequoia Investments has agreed to settle charges with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority for his role in acting as an unregistered dealer between May 2020 and May 2021, accepting a suspended fine. Without admitting or denying the findings, Elgart consented to

As government funding deadlines loom just weeks away, cities and states face fallout from federal aid cuts, the claw back of pandemic funds and reductions in the always-vulnerable Build America Bond subsidies. The federal government is currently operating under a pair of short-term continuing resolutions that expire within weeks. The departments of Agriculture, Veterans Affairs,

The U.S. District Court for Puerto Rico ended a Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority bondholder discrimination adversary proceeding, asking parties to raise the issues they have during the plan of adjustment confirmation hearing planned to in early March. District Court Judge Laura Taylor Swain stayed the proceeding while saying plaintiffs GoldenTree and Syncora Guarantee should

Municipals were mixed ahead of a new-issue calendar that rebounds to more than $9 billion. U.S. Treasury yields rose further Friday as the December jobs report cast doubt on whether the Fed would start cutting rates in March. Equities were up near the close. There was already “significant upward pressure” on Treasury yields in recent

From baby bonds to pension funding, 2023 was a year for progress in Connecticut, according to the annual report released Wednesday by State Treasurer Erick Russell. “The work done by our agency often focuses on the long-term — sustained investment success, low-cost infrastructure funding, helping families save for college, and now our landmark ‘CT Baby

Bonds used to buy eight senior living properties in Michigan and Ohio are likely to default within six months, S&P Global Ratings said. On Dec. 21, S&P placed bonds issued for Great Lakes Senior Living Communities LLC — already rated deep in the speculative grades at CCC-minus — on CreditWatch with negative implications. The bonds

Alberto G. Musalem will take over as president of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis on April 2, the bank announced Thursday. Musalem, an economist, and former executive vice president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, “served as CEO and co-chief investment officer of Evince Asset Management LP (2018-’22), a quantitative investment

Municipals were little changed Wednesday, while U.S. Treasury yields fell slightly and equities ended the session down after the Federal Open Market Committee’s December meeting minutes offered little insights into future rate cuts. The two-year muni-to-Treasury ratio Wednesday was at 56%, the three-year at 58%, the five-year at 58%, the 10-year at 58% and the