Markets

With more colleges facing fiscal challenges issuing debt for new projects, many higher education institutions are exploring alternative forms of financing, according to Tom Morsch, co-head of Public Financial Management Inc.’s public-private partnership practice.

Despite last week’s downgrades, Illinois’ general obligation paper fares better than New Jersey for relative credit risk, Municipal Market Analytics said in a commentary comparing the two lowest-rated states.

Municipal professionals, insurers and bondholders criticized the United States Treasury’s proposal for a “Super Chapter 9” bankruptcy bill for Puerto Rico as dangerous.

Rating agencies are continuing to treat municipal issuers unfairly even though federal law required that practice to stop, former California Treasurer Bill Lockyer said.

Municipal bond funds reported inflows for the third week in a row, according to Lipper data released on Thursday. Weekly reporting funds experienced $240.718 million of inflows in the week ended Oct. 21, after inflows of $520.807 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, fell three basis points to 4.34% in the week ended Oct. 22 from 4.37% in the prior week.

Illinois took its second credit blow this week when Moody’s Investors Service dropped the state’s general obligation debt into the triple-B category Thursday as the state’s prospects for tackling its budget and pension mess dim amid the four-month-old budget stalemate.

Allen Park, Mich., has delayed the settlement date for its purchase of $11.2 million of the $26.3 million of bonds offered to tender from a troubled issue for a failed movie studio project.

Local credits in Michigan will be hurt if a proposal to give their unlimited tax general obligation bonds a statutory first lien falls through, Fitch Ratings said in a special report.

The relationship between local government and its workforce is an important indicator of the strength of a municipalities’ credit, Fitch Ratings said in a report released on Wednesday.