2018: A year of stress for the municipal market

Municipals came under pressure from all sides in 2018, as issuers adjusted to an unfavorable tax law in Washington, state and local governments battled credit challenges, and Puerto Rico's debt restructuring sent shock waves to the mainland. Here's how The Bond Buyer covered the challenges.

Trump-McConnell, President Trump with Mitch McConnell
U.S. President Donald Trump, right, shakes hands with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican from Kentucky, during a tax bill passage event with Republican congressional members of the House and Senate on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Wednesday, Dec. 20, 2017. House Republicans passed the most extensive rewrite of the U.S. tax code in more than 30 years, hours after the Senate passed the legislation, handing Trump his first major legislative victory. Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg

Advance refundings mourned, market adjusts

How to survive the ban on tax-exempt advance refundings

How advance refundings can be resurrected

February fallout: Monthly issuance hits 18-year low

How the loss of advance refundings is hurting cities
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Natural disasters

Wildfire's destruction of California town creates uncharted credit territory

How munis could play a role in disaster legislation

Wildfires burn through property taxes securing California county bonds

Podcast: Confronting Mother Nature
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Chicago and Illinois, the wrecks of the Midwest

Political will is the missing ingredient in the Illinois pension recipe

Mayor's exit from race puts Chicago's fiscal future in flux

Chicago's case for issuing pension bonds

A narrow win for bondholders still sets an ominous precedent in Illinois
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The biggest municipal debt restructuring ensnared in litigation

How Puerto Rico's bankruptcy is roiling the municipal bond world

Puerto Rico bondholders may have to wait two more years

Why the Puerto Rico Oversight Board may be overturned

Legal opinion raises prospect of federal payment of Puerto Rico bonds
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Connecticut: a tough nutmeg to crack

Covenant flap in Connecticut may limit state's ability to refund, issue notes

Connecticut assumption of Hartford debt pays immediate dividend to city's credit

How governor's plan could trigger technical default on Connecticut pension bonds

Hartford debt deal drives Connecticut's S&P rating down and lifts city's
A steam generator is installed in unit 4, a nuclear power unit under construction at Plant Vogtle in Georgia, in August 2018.

Will nuclear construction woes lead to a muni meltdown?

SEC probes the meltdown of South Carolina’s twin nuclear reactor project

South Carolina Supreme Court asked if Santee Cooper must pay nuke debt

Agreement to finish Georgia reactors triggers downgrades

With vote on Georgia nuclear project imminent, FERC asked to intervene
The SEC is one of several regulators charged with the first phase of a joint rulemaking for the Financial Data Transparency Act.
The SEC is one of several regulators charged with the first phase of a joint rulemaking for the Financial Data Transparency Act.Photographer: Al Drago/Bloomberg

Crime and punishment

SEC starts 2018 with an MA enforcement action

Ex-Ramapo official hit with unusually harsh fine for 'recurrent and egregious' fraud

Why a muni advisor had to settle charges with SEC

FINRA fines firm for role-switching in muni deal
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Rising rates and retrenchment

Why the IHS Markit acquisition of Ipreo matters for munis

Market reacts to downsizing: U.S. Bank was 'never a player', 'never able to scale up'

Why retail is no longer king of muni investors

Muni strategists see a turning point as year-end nears

Podcast: Is yield curve inversion inevitable?
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