New York

Brad Lander says using municipal bonds could be one way to help move recent immigrants into mainstream society and provide a long-term economic boost to the city.

The state board that oversees the city's finances heard a positive assessment of the Big Apple's fiscal picture, tempered with a wary gaze into the future.

Many market players have revised their supply projections downward since rising interest rates have slowed down refunding and taxable volumes and general market volatility has stopped some issuers from participating.

The congestion pricing plan that puts tolls on vehicle traffic coming into lower Manhattan still faces many hurdles before it would take effect.

Don't expect much new information to come from Jackson Hole this year analysts say, as the data-dependent FOMC will rely on incoming economic numbers in September to decide the proper size rate hike.

Losses for August climbed last week, with month-to-date returns in the red at negative 1.40% on the Bloomberg muni index, high-yield seeing 0.99% losses, taxables at 2.01% losses and the impact index losing 1.70%.

Investors will be greeted Monday with a decrease in supply with the new-issue calendar estimated at $6.711 billion, down from total sales of $10.318 billion.

With online sports wagering off to a fast start in New York State, lobbyists for online casino games want to be next.

Fitch is bulking up its public finance group with the addition of six municipal bond analysts for its offices in San Francisco, New York and Austin.

It was a busy day in the primary Tuesday, with New York City pricing $950 million of GOs for retail and Miami-Dade County, Florida, and Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, selling in the competitive market.

"Demand for low-duration tax-exempts has been so strong that short maturity benchmark yields are now lower than the after-tax yields for comparably rated benchmark taxable muni and corporate bonds," said CreditSights strategists Pat Luby and John Ceffalio.

The Northeast's issuers sold $49.69 billion of municipal bonds in the first half of 2022, down more than 18% year-over-year.

"I think this deal is kind of like football in the pre-season," says County Comptroller Kevin Hardwick. "We're looking at this new issue as a run-up to next year — the big event — when we hope to be bonding for our new stadium for the Buffalo Bills."

The future outlook now is much more fragile, the Citizens Budget Commission said.

The deal is the latest in a series of credit offerings the city is using to incentivize and grow the local charter school industry for the future.

Total July volume was $25.598 billion in 520 deals versus $37.573 billion in 1,013 issues a year earlier, according to Refinitiv data.

As passengers return and revenues climb toward pre-pandemic norms, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey has billions of capital construction on tap at the region's largest airports.

Because revenue from riders at the farebox has not recovered as well as the MTA had expected, budget gaps are rising as federal funds are falling.

Most top 10 issuers for 1H are from New York and California, with four from New York and two from California.

Tom Wright, president and CEO of the Regional Plan Association, talks with Chip Barnett about the ongoing Gateway transportation project and its importance to the tri-state region. He also discusses the challenges and opportunities in transit, infrastructure, affordable housing, climate change and ESG. (30 minutes)