Markets

The municipal high yield sector, slumping since before the second quarter, started to rally in October.

The New Jersey Legislature has scheduled a "fact-finding" hearing to explore legalizing marijuana as a way to reform drug laws while also raising new revenue.

The SEC recently approved a new set of rules that would likely alter the behavior of one of the municipal bond market's largest, and one of the most influential, investor segments of the industry — mutual funds. Surprisingly, the industry appears not to be considering its full implications outside of a few closed circles.

Fitch Ratings deemed the reorganization of Clark County School District, Nevada's largest school and the nation's fifth biggest, to be a mid-term credit risk in a report describing the experience of a Utah school district that underwent a break-up in 2010.

Allen Park, Mich. received a positive review from Standard & Poor's for its advancing efforts to shed some its troublesome $26.3 million of debt issued for a failed film studio, with an upgrade for the still speculative-grade credit.

Moody's Investors Service had more upgrades than downgrades in the third quarter of 2015, and the upgrades also affected a larger dollar amount of debt than its downgrades.

Municipal bond funds reported inflows for the fifth week in a row, according to Lipper data released on Thursday. Weekly reporting funds experienced $62.996 million of inflows in the week ended Nov. 4, after inflows of $349.038 million in the previous week.

The weekly average yield to maturity of The Bond Buyer Municipal Bond Index, which is based on 40 long-term bond prices, rose one basis point to 4.35% in the week ended Nov. 5, from 4.34% in the prior week.

Kroll Bond Rating Agency entered a new partnership with current shareholder and investor Wharf Street LLC to own a majority stake in the firm and pump new capital into the rating agency for future growth and expansion.

Citing a state budget impasse in its fifth month, Moody's downgraded Pennsylvania's pre-default intercept programs for school districts to A3 from A2.