Muni Think

Reported savings from advance refundings make great headlines, but they come with a concealed opportunity cost: waiting with refunding until the call date is likely to be considerably more beneficial.

Not only do government entities have new federal funds destined to reach them soon, but citizens also are supporting bond elections in record numbers.

The settlement of a matter involving G-13 is the first time a firm has been charged with violating that rule since 2003 and left some wondering if FINRA was using enforcement cases to establish compliance standards.

Obtaining substantial new money for green infrastructure is still difficult, and the more innovative the projects, the harder they are to finance. Environmental impact bonds can help.

Investors who make the leap toward greater use of alternative data will find that the quality and accuracy of their credit assessments will benefit from the use of alternative data when used in place of subjective or qualitative guesswork.

Municipal bonds, issued by state and local governments, finance infrastructure investment and should be the foundation of any modernization package.

America simply cannot compete globally, especially with China, without an infrastructure-driven advanced manufacturing and inventive base.

Social bonds represent a new milestone in the education space and a key to unlocking the door to impact investments.

Planning will require favorable tax policies, sophisticated capital programing, bond financing, and pioneering public-private partnerships. It also requires a cohesive national, bipartisan infrastructure plan as a foundation to begin addressing this impending infrastructure crisis.

While acknowledging the critical assistance in the federal relief bill, yet in anticipation of the uncertainty ahead, further Congressional action is essential to provide state and local governments with additional tools to manage debt programs to meet the needs of their constituents.