Alaska

Alaska Gov. Bill Walker announced this week that he convened a meeting of the state's business leaders to discuss Alaska's fiscal future and how to reduce its multi-billion dollar budget deficit.

The oil and gas industry is pressing Congress to permit exports of crude as prices remain at the lowest since the 2008 global financial crisis. The campaign comes as Houston and other energy dependent credits face growing pain from the falling prices, according to Fitch Ratings.

Far West issuers sold $48.3 billion of municipal bonds in the first half of 2015, a 70% increase from the first six months of 2014 that was driven by refundings.

Standard & Poor’s put triple-A rated Alaska on negative outlook and warned that it might no longer warrant the highest rating if the state’s lawmakers fail to fix its structural budget imbalance.

Alaska and California issuers are among those at risk of downgrades after U.S. oil prices tumbled this week, Fitch Ratings said Tuesday.

CIVICVentures, an Alaska non-profit, is selling $90 million of tax-exempt refunding bonds next week on behalf of Anchorage.