Ratings

Both S&P Global Ratings and Kroll Bond Rating Agency revised their outlooks for Chicago general obligation bonds to positive from stable.

Fitch also affirmed the A rating on $800.3 million of senior lien seaport revenue bonds Miami-Dade County issued on behalf of its seaport department.

Chicago's upcoming general obligation sale will carry a Moody's rating for the first time since at least 2014.

Seven years after dropping Chicago to speculative grade citing pension funding, Moody's returned the city to investment grade, citing pension funding.

The rating agency lifted the outlook of the Los Angeles Unified School District, the nation's second largest, to positive.

Chicago, upgraded Friday by Fitch, will follow City Council's expected passage of a new 2023 budget next month with a new money general obligation bond issue.

The upgrade reflects the city's improving pension funding practices, commitment to a sound reserve position and ability to institute structural budget measures, Fitch said.

The sale will fund improvements and repairs to public parks, waterfronts, and roads across the double-A-plus rated city.

Decisions by three organizations to drop Moody's ratings underscore an industry-wide trend as the sector struggles with rising costs and narrowing margins.

CommonSpirit Health priced more than $1 billion of debt on schedule Tuesday after disclosing a ransomware attack that has impacted some IT operations.

Moody's says Hawaii's tourism-based economy is disproportionately vulnerable to high inflation. It affirmed the state at Aa2 ahead of a $800 million GO deal.

Ohio's growing economic diversity helped draw a positive outlook from Moody's, a month after a Fitch Ratings upgrade.

The rating outlook boost to positive from stable follows recent progress on steadying reserve rates and paying down debt, S&P said.

The Sherwood school district in northwest Oregon had its issuer rating downgraded to A3 from A1 by Moody's Investors Service.

Ratings for Kansas have not changed since it was downgraded three times during the prior decade due to structural budget problems in the wake of tax cuts.

Friday's action brings the state's outlook to positive with all four major credit rating agencies.

Moody's affirmed its Baa3 rating and concluded a two-month-old review of the troubled city, which is under state fiscal oversight.

Improved commitments to pension funding, coupled with other changes to the two states' retirement systems, have yielded bond rating upgrades for both.

The healthcare chain won breathing room as its letter of credit provider waived a rating covenant and removed an event of default provision for junk downgrades.

"The labor noise is probably a little louder and is probably going to be with us for longer than we expected in late 2021 and is probably going to result in lower margins for a bit of time," S&P's Suzie Desai said.