Finance

The broader market awaits Friday’s nonfarm payrolls report, but Thursday brought some helpful labor news — unemployment claims dropped to the lowest since before the pandemic-caused economic shutdowns and layoffs plunged in June.

Michigan's fiscal recovery led S&P Global Ratings to lift its rating outlook to stable from negative. Fitch boosted its outlook to positive earlier this month.

Ridership displacement, remote work and online shopping amplify pre-pandemic challenges such as large capital plans.

Gilt-edged munis fell as much as two basis points Wednesday as the month ended and the first half stats were put into the record books.

After more than a decade of ratings deterioration, the lowest-rated state won an upgrade Tuesday, taking its Moody's rating to Baa2.

A majority of the week's largest new issues priced at yields mostly at or around benchmarks as secondary trading did little to move scales. In economic data released Tuesday, the June consumer confidence index climbed, suggesting spending will rebound.

State Treasurer Shawn Wooden discusses the state's across-the-board bond rating upgrades, its immediate challenges and initiatives such as "CT Baby Bonds." Paul Burton hosts. (19 minutes)

Dozens of digital tools are billed as democratizing finance. But a number of entrepreneurs still see massive gaps.

With various Federal Reserve officials airing their views since the Federal Open Market Committee’s latest meeting, it may take a while for members to reach agreement on tapering, a boon for municipals.

Making it a summer Friday, munis were quiet. Participants contemplate why the market underperformed taxables to the degree they did when fundamentals are objectively strong and little has changed since before the FOMC.

Over the years, Assured Guaranty has been open to guaranteeing in the U.K. and most of Europe, Australia, and New Zealand and through AGM in the U.S. they cover certain transactions within the Latin American region.

The final new issues of the week close with some bumps in repricings while the secondary was quiet.

How the pandemic is accelerating trends in financial advice and changing the way Americans manage their money.

Fitch revised Illinois' outlook to positive but the rating remains BBB-minus, the lowest investment grade.

Triple-A benchmark yields moved higher by as much as five basis points while ICI reported another $1.8 billion of inflows and ETFs increase their share by $841 million.

A volatile U.S. Treasury market and month-end positioning are pressuring municipal yield curves.

John Hallacy, founder of John Hallacy Consulting LLC, talks with Chip Barnett about the pandemic’s lingering credit impacts on state finances in a wide-ranging discussion of the many issues affecting the municipal market today. (17 minutes)

The Federal Reserve must be prepared to move if inflation continues to surprise to the upside, according to one Fed president, while another again stated a desire for the Fed to pull back on its accommodation.

The city council is considering the city's budget, which gave preliminary approval to a roughly $5.2 billion spending plan that allocates $156 million for violence prevention programs. Council members expect to vote on the budget Thursday.

The short end of the yield curve faced pressure from a cheaper UST five-year. As the flattening trend in UST takes hold, demand for duration will also spill over into the tax-exempt space, with long-dated munis continuing to outperform, analysts say.