Washington

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority has fined Morgan Stanley $1 million and ordered it to pay $371,476 in restitution to customers for excessive markups and markdowns on municipal and corporate bonds.

The Senate Thursday voted 95 to 0 to repeal a tax law provision that would require federal, state, and local governments to withhold 3% of certain payments made to private contractors beginning in 2013.

A Senate committee Wednesday voted unanimously to approve a bipartisan, $109 billion, two-year surface transportation bill that maintains current funding levels for highways and provides another $2 billion for a program that provides federal credit assistance for projects.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board proposed a revised definition of "sophisticated municipal market professional" Tuesday that, for the first time, would include individuals with total assets of at least $50 million.

WASHINGTON - Wachovia Bank NA, now Wells Fargo & Co., has reached a tentative settlement of a consolidated class- action suit with municipal issuers over antitrust charges of bid-rigging for municipal investment, derivatives and other contracts.

WASHINGTON - The Securities and Exchange Commission will issue a proposal to revamp the money-market fund industry "in very short order," chairman Mary Schapiro said Monday.

WASHINGTON - The Internal Revenue Service is auditing the tax-exempt bonds in a number of conduit deals where the borrowers entered into total return swaps and is questioning whether the bonds may be taxable because of arbitrage rule violations, market participants said Monday.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board unveiled an online toolkit for muni issuers Monday, telling state and local governments that underwriters, unlike muni advisors, do not have a fiduciary duty to issuer clients.

Regulatory priorities for the Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service this year and next include proposing guidance for Build America Bonds and other direct-pay bonds, according to plans they recently released.

WASHINGTON - Dealer groups and market participants criticized the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board's draft rule on broker's brokers last week, saying it would undermine, not improve, secondary market liquidity.

SAN FRANCISCO - Moody's Investors Service downgraded Wenatchee, Wash.'s general obligation ratings three notches due to concerns over city-backed debt issued to pay for a struggling arena.

WASHINGTON - The Senate failed to move forward on Thursday with either of the separate infrastructure jobs bills proposed by Democrats and Republicans.

WASHINGTON - The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board would for the first time require broker-dealers to disclose to state and local governments that they are not fiduciaries and would prohibit underwriters from telling issuers not to hire financial advisors, under revised rule changes it filed Thursday.

WASHINGTON - Secondary market trading volume surged to more than $851 billion in the third quarter of 2011, the highest so far this year, but still fell 8.5% short of the almost $931 billion reached during the same period last year, the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board said Wednesday.

New municipal issuance should rebound next year, given low interest rates, pent-up demand for projects, and improved finances among states and localities, market observers with the Bond Dealers of America said Tuesday.

SAN FRANCISCO - Washington anti-tax and initiative crusader Tim Eyman has filed a lawsuit to try to void the state's $519 million bond deal for a floating bridge project.

SAN FRANCISCO - Washington's treasurer will ask the Legislature to cough up $42 million to try to protect the state from the repercussions of a local municipal default.

While the loss of Internet retail sales taxes is not currently significant enough to hurt state and local government credit ratings, it could become a problem in the future, Standard & Poor's said in a report issued Monday.

WASHINGTON - The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board has asked the Securities and Exchange Commission for guidance on when a bank loan qualifies as a municipal security, officials said Monday.

The Internal Revenue Service closed its audit of $28.72 million of special assessment bonds issued by the Bartram Park Community Development District in Jacksonville, Fla., in 2005 without any changes to the tax-exempt status of the bonds.