Muni Think

Most of New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s infrastructure proposals aim to achieve worthy goals, but have some fundamental flaws from a public policy and infrastructure planning perspective.

While lower oil prices are likely to have a stimulative effect on the national economy, we are wary of impacts on the finances of local credits in the Oil Patch.

This week we update our analysis of export volumes. We also take a brief look at the relationship of municipals to Treasuries and its potential impact on supply.

The municipal market is in a dire need of realistic optionless yield curves.

Texas’ economy is suffering from lower energy prices, according to the latest statistics, while New Jersey faces mounting challenges as absentee Gov. Chris Christie runs for president.

As this year ends, market sentiment, as measured by Municipal Market Data, is more subdued than usual. We can think of a few possible reasons.

Global equity investors and sponsors continue to demonstrate strong interest in investing in U.S. infrastructure, notwithstanding the relatively anemic pipeline.

No clarity has been offered with regard to the extent of the reasonable diligence obligations of those participating in competitive deals, as co-managers, syndicate members or selling dealers.

The costs of issuing, trading and managing portfolios of tax credit bonds would cause such securities to be unappealing both to issuers and investors.

Underwriters of municipal bonds have an obligation to perform due diligence on the issuer and any other individual or entity that may be required to make payments on the bonds as they come due.