News and Information from Bond Buyer

The rise of machine learning. Continued growth of electronic trading. Intensifying automation. Stephanie Sparvero, Global Head of BVAL Evaluated Pricing at Bloomberg, talks about these issues and more in how the muni market is charting a changing muni landscape. Lynne Funk hosts. (30 minutes)

The funding also means the use of state-authorized lockbox funds from Internet sales and mansion taxes to prop up the operating budget is no longer necessary, which allows the agency to issue MTA bonds in 2021, to advance the 2020 to 2024 capital program.

The Fed remains dovish, although it raised inflation projections and lowered expected unemployment rates, but most participants still see rates at the zero lower bound in 2023.

Highlights of that aid include $3 billion for K through 12 schools, $308 million for childcare, and $370 million for rental, mortgage, and homeless assistance.

Virginia was ranked 23rd in the nation for its seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in January as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to impact the economy.

Boosters say completion of the 22-mile trail corridor is expected to deliver a total economic impact of $10 billion.

Louisiana and NASA are looking at creating a “Space Campus” in New Orleans out of an existing NASA assembly facility to drive economic development.

The budget, a continuation from the previous fiscal year, was called too austere by some critics.

The pandemic and the resultant lockdowns have hit employment in the 50 states worse than they have on the island, which saw a 1.6% decline.

Illinois rode the tailwinds of market demand for higher-yielding paper and its rosier fiscal picture, sending its primary market spreads to their lowest since 2014.

A repricing of Illinois GOs saw the bonds bumped by 12 to 20 basis points from Tuesday's preliminary pricing wires and 17 to 25 basis points from Monday's price talk.

Advocates for state and budget officials say there is enough ambiguity in the legislation to warrant guidance from the Treasury Department.

The legislation is likely to end up as part of a larger infrastructure bill.

BJC Health System is selling $805 million of mostly refunding debt with its ratings and balance sheet intact as its manages COVID-19 pandemic wounds.

A bill backed by the Municipal Employees’ Annuity and Benefit Fund underscores the fiscal strains created by Chicago's pension underfunding.

The twin ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles reported a 50% increase in imports in February on a year-over-year basis.

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

Paul Gray, co-founder of IronHold Capital, links the unfunded liability problem to bad public policy decisions and bad hedge-fund actors. Paul Burton hosts (13 minutes).

Big banks led the push to offer multibillion-dollar bonds that fund affordable housing, education and nonprofits that serve needy communities. But Truist's recent $1.25 billion bond is a sign that regionals want to attract progressive institutional investors — and burnish their images.

A reversal of fund flows and the arrival of the economic aid for states and local governments helped boost the market's morale ahead of $10 billion in new-issues supply this week.