Bonds

While municipal bond issuance has dropped precipitously the past two years amid volatile markets, environmental, social and governance debt has steadily grown despite issuer hesitation to designate it as such and an ever-more acrimonious political environment emerges over it. ESG issuance for the first three quarters of 2023 was at $27.970 billion, potentially on pace

States would suffer deep cuts in water infrastructure funding they receive through state revolving funds, which make up a significant corner of the municipal bond market, under a bill passed Friday by the U.S. House of Representatives. The fiscal 2024 Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies appropriations measure, House Bill 4821, totals $37.4

The notion of channeling federal dollars devoted to infrastructure improvement into affordable housing including office conversions located near mass transit is picking up steam. Quantifying the possibilities and costs offered by the concept remains elusive but recent research is revealing new possibilities.  “We end up concluding something on the order of 10% of the existing

Two major offshore wind projects in New Jersey got the ax as their developer, Danish energy company Ørsted, reassesses its U.S. portfolio citing sustained inflation and rising construction costs. Mads Nipper, Group President and CEO of Ørsted, on Tuesday said the company was “extremely disappointed” to cancel Ocean Wind 1 and 2, a pair of offshore wind

Municipals rallied Friday across the curve sending triple-A yields lower by as much as 13 basis points as they continued to play catch up to the moves in U.S. Treasuries, which also saw more gains after a weaker jobs report further signaled Fed rate hikes may be done. Equities closed the week in the black.

Washington is banking on its high credit ratings and strong demand on previous sales as it heads to market Tuesday with a $483 million competitive refunding.  The bonds will be auctioned in two series: $296.550 million various purpose general obligation refunding bonds, Series R-2024A and $186.225 million motor vehicle fuel tax and vehicle-related fees GO

A Pennsylvania company that operates three nursing homes is in default, and it’s a familiar story: staff shortages and a large slump in occupancy in the aftermath of the pandemic. Senior Choice Inc. failed to make interest and principal payments due Oct. 31 on its $15.9 million bond issued in 2006 by the Cambria County

Opportunity 180, a Nevada nonprofit, and Equitable Facilities Fund, a philanthropy-backed impact fund, are joining with the state of Nevada in what the firms called a “first of its kind public-private partnership” to provide a dedicated facility funding resource for public charter schools looking to open or expand in Nevada. The partnership, two years in

Municipals were firmer Wednesday but underperformed a U.S. Treasury rally after the Fed held rates steady. Equities rallied as well. The municipal market was up “a touch” after the Fed announced it would keep rates unchanged at their November meeting, according to Michael Pietronico, chief executive officer at Miller Tabak Asset Management. Commenting on the

A bankrupt Iowa hospital could ultimately end up in the hands of the University of Iowa, which submitted the winning bid in a reopened auction last week.  A hearing on Mercy Hospital’s sale to the university is scheduled for Monday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Cedar Rapids. Mercy Hospital in Iowa City filed a Chapter

Municipal bond delinquencies declined in the third quarter, despite some dramatic outliers including Mercy Hospital’s bankruptcy filing in Iowa, and some unrated affordable housing and senior living bonds, Moody’s Investors Service said. There were only three new municipal bond defaults in the third quarter, compared to nine in the second quarter, Moody’s analysts wrote. Two

Fitch Ratings lifted its outlook on Denver International Airport’s ratings to positive from stable ahead of the sale of as much as $815 million of subordinate lien revenue bonds as soon as next week. The rating agency, which affirmed ratings of A-plus for the subordinate bonds and AA-minus for senior bonds, cited “ongoing positive trends

Overdue and over budget, a project to redevelop Connecticut’s New London Pier into an offshore wind energy hub for projects along the Atlantic coast is nearly complete. Its first shipments, components for a project in the Long Island Sound, are set to leave port early Tuesday. Launched in 2020 with an original price tag of

Against the backdrop of a big state-funded property tax cut and with a bond guarantee program fully back in business, Texas public school districts are asking voters for almost $18 billion of debt Nov. 7.  That accounts for the lion’s share of the $28.48 billion of bonds in 218 measures on Texas ballots, according to

Market data platform SOLVE has introduced a public finance workflow solution that shows historical scales for all muni deals, allowing for spread comparisons of where a deal priced in the past to where it might price in current market conditions. The firm’s clients wanted a tool to deliver deal-based spreads on their terms, said Gregg

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board has approved its first fees under its new rate card model, which helps the board respond to market pressures and adjust yearly rates accordingly, and expects to file those changes with the Securities and Exchange Commission within a month’s time. Of the four fees the board collects from regulated entities,

A new stream of federal funding may find its way into office conversions and other efforts designed to boost the nation’s housing supply, and public finance officers are eyeing a renewed effort to finance homebuilding with new rules on Community Development Block Grants and the freeing up of federally-owned land.  The new efforts were officially

Municipals were steady Friday ahead of an expected paltry new-issue calendar. U.S. Treasuries were firmer 10 years and in and equities were mixed after a volatile week of market-moving economic data and increasing geopolitical tensions in the Middle East while all markets await the Federal Open Market Committee’s November meeting. “Any chance of a dovish

New York City has received a boost of state support as it seeks to head off a worsening affordable housing crisis, including an increase in the bonding capacity of the New York City Housing Development Corp. Gov. Kathy Hochul this week signed into law a trio of bills passed by New York’s Legislature leveraging state

Oklahoma’s Council of Bond Oversight approved up to $560 million of revenue bonds Thursday for the state’s Grand River Dam Authority (GRDA), which is expected to start issuing the debt later this year. Proceeds will finance repairs and improvements, including a natural gas-fired generating unit to replace the authority’s last remaining coal-fired unit, as well