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"With the new economic data signaling a delay of the Fed starting rate cuts to further into the year, we should continue to see yields rise until we get near to the Fed's target of a 2% 'neutral' rate for inflation," said Jason Wong, vice president of municipals at AmeriVet Securities.

The Federal Railroad Administration plans to make formal recommendations to Congress this spring.

A private university in Milwaukee will borrow $163.7 million through tax-exempt bonds to build new emergency response facilities for the state and county.

Robert Poole, a leading expert in the U.S. public-private partnership transportation sector, joins infrastructure reporter Caitlin Devitt to talk about upcoming deals including toll lanes and bridges in the Southeast and high speed rail in the West as well as states that are advancing P3s and action on the federal front. (37 minutes)

The board has initiated a review of the annual rate card process.

All municipal bond insurers wrapped $35.381 billion in 2023, a 5.8% increase from the $33.428 billion insured in 2022, according to LSEG data.

Bond volume fell slightly, as volatility, higher interest rates, falling pandemic aid and slower economic growth kept issuers on the sidelines.

Issuance has fluctuated throughout the years since the financial crisis, following interest rate changes — rising when rates rise and falling when rates fall — but the totals have come in well below $15 billion every year since 2012, save for 2017 when $15.234 billion was sold.

"Tight underwriting spreads in 2023 followed, for the most part, a well-entrenched trajectory that has backdropped the primary municipal market for years, and so the negligible bump in spreads does not come as a surprise," said Jeff Lipton, managing director of credit research at Oppenheimer.

Texas bond volume climbed 22.5% to lead the nation in a year when issuance in the eight-state Southwest region increased by only 0.6%.