Kyle Glazier

WASHINGTON -- Sales of new single-family houses dropped 4.6% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 411,000 in February, the Commerce Department reported Tuesday.

WASHINGTON -- New orders for manufactured durable goods soared $12.4 billion or 5.7% to $232.1 billion in February, the Commerce Department reported Tuesday.

The Virginia attorney general's office has issued an opinion that a sweeping new transportation law passed by the legislature last month violates the state constitution.

Sequestration and the reduction of Build America Bond subsidy payments took center stage as several prominent Virginia issuers came together to discuss their situations with investors Friday.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board has released guidance in response to confusion about underwriters' disclosures to issuers required under its fair dealing rule.

Standard & Poor's announced Thursday evening it has upgraded the District of Columbia's general obligation bonds to AA- from A+.

A U.S. Senate panel gave its stamp of approval this week to legislation that would create a federal loan and loan guarantee program for water infrastructure that could augment bond financing and public private partnerships.

Existing home sales rose 0.8% to a seasonally adjusted 4.98 million-unit rate in February, following a revised 4.94 million rate in January, the National Association of Realtors announced Thursday.

One treasurer on Friday worried that the Securities and Exchange Commission is planning to examine most state pension disclosures in bond documents, while another said small issuers want more guidance for competitive bond sales.

The Fed will continue open-ended programs to purchase longer-term Treasuries at a rate of $45 billion per month and mortgage-backed securities at a $40 billion per month, the Federal Open Market Committee said in a statement released Wednesday following the FOMC's two-day meeting.

A large majority of the Federal Open Market Committee continues to view 2015 as the appropriate time to tighten monetary policy, and believes GDP growth will be substantially up by then, according to the Fed's latest summary of economic projections released Wednesday.

The National Association of State Treasurers said it is committed to defending existing tax policy on municipal bonds, even though doubts about the status of private activity bonds showed during the group's legislative conference.

Congress will have a chance in coming weeks to consider two pieces of legislation aimed at increasing investment in water infrastructure, including bonds and public-private partnerships.

Bond lawyers should report an issuer's failure to comply with its continuing disclosure agreement, no matter how late, because doing so no longer carries a stigma and "does not hurt the issuer's ability to sell the bonds," panel members said at the National Association of Bond Lawyers Tax and Securities Law Institute here.

Though sequestration prevented two federal regulators from sharing their perspectives, other panelists speaking to bond lawyers in San Francisco predicted more enforcement and whistleblower activity.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is still months away from finalizing its definition of municipal advisor, but is poised to step up muni bond enforcement efforts in general, the head of the SEC's Office of Municipal Securities told bond lawyers meeting here.

Justice Department antitrust prosecutor Rebecca Meiklejohn and Internal Revenue Service agent Michael Okubo gave bond lawyers an indepth look at the investigations and prosecutions of convicted bid riggers, urging them to be more careful about looking for red flags that suggest laws are being violated in bond transactions.

Changes to the tax code capping the tax exemption of municipal bonds would increase borrowing costs for public power providers of all sizes, according to a new report from the American Public Power Association.

Three Standard and Poor's analysts speaking in the wake of federal sequestration cuts said that public power utilities, water and sewer entities, and the transportation sector should all remain fairly stable for the next year despite a number of pressures.

The Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act has been touted by many as a crucial funding source for major projects, but most states have never used the program and say it has little value for them.