News and Information from Bond Buyer

With doubts over the future of tolling in El Paso, the Texas city's designated toll authority will issue $35 million of revenue bonds backed by vehicle registration fees this month.

The Conference Board's Employment Trends Index (ETI) grew to 131.394 in February from a downwardly revised 129.91 in January, and is up 3.1% from a year ago, the group announced Monday.

The Treasury Department said it will auction $33 billion 44-day cash management bills on March 13.

Municipal bond traders are set to see $5.81 billion of new deals hit the market this week, led by five competitive sales from a New York state issuer. Traders will also be watching the Federal Reserve, which meets in Washington on Tuesday and Wednesday, and is expected to raise interest rates.

The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta picked economist Raphael W. Bostic as its 15th president and chief executive officer, the Bank announced Monday.

In the latest episode of Muni Minute, The Bond Buyer looks beyond this week's meeting of the Federal Reserve to what lies ahead for interest rates during the rest of the year. Will the economy improve with above average job, wage and GDP growth? Will the Fed then feel confident enough to raise rates more that its anticipated three times? Will four become the Fed's lucky number in 2017? Stay tuned on Wednesday for the FOMC's new summary of economic projections that may answer these questions.

Mar. 13, 2017 Northeast: Plain/Insured GO Yield Curve* State Ratings One-Year Five-Year 10-Year 30-Year Connecticut Aa3/AA-/AA- 0.99 2.18 3.17 3.94 Delaware Aaa/AAA/AAA 0.79 1.62 2.46 3.23 Maine Aa2/AA/AA 0.79 1.69 2.58 3.37 Maryland Aaa/AAA/AAA 0.79 1.65 2.5 3.24 Massachusetts Aa1/AA+/AA+ 0.82 1.7 2.64 3.44 New Hampshire Aa1/AA/AA+ 0.81 1.71 2.59 3.36 New Jersey A2/A/A 1.19 2.51 3.49 4.22 New York Aa1/AA+/AA+ 0.79 1.66 2.56 3.41 Pennsylvania Aa3/AA-/AA- 0.94 2.18 3.13 3.89 Rhode Island Aa2/AA/AA 0.83 1.75 2.72 3.53 Vermont Aaa/AA+/AAA 0.79 1.64 2.49 3.25 Dist. of Columbia Aa1/AA/AA 0.82 1.71 2.65 3.49 Puerto Rico Caa3/CC/CC 37.94 14.23 10.52 8.14

3/10/2017 3/3/2017 State # Iss Amount ($000s) # Iss Amount ($000s) Chg in Amt ($000s) Connecticut 1 $3,600 2 $15,860 -$12,260 Delaware 0 0 0 0 0 Maine 2 12,929 0 0 12,929 Maryland 2 45,110 4 1,212,070 -1,166,960 Massachusetts 1 36,925 7 252,182 -215,257 New Hampshire 3 45,194 0 0 45,194 New Jersey 3 61,448 5 370,985 -309,537 New York 13 2,637,665 14 1,508,987 1,128,678 Pennsylvania 14 485,610 14 400,985 84,625 Rhode Island 3 90,100 2 98,565 -8,465 Vermont 0 0 2 27,780 -27,780 District of Columbia 0 0 0 0 0 Puerto Rico 1 750,000 1 750,000 0

Tuesday, March 14 Issuer St Description Amount

Monday, March 13 Issuer St Description Amount

Week Of March 13 Issuer St Description Amount

Week Of March 13 Issuer St Description Amount

ALABAMA

IOWA

Day Indicator Last Report Forecast Tuesday PPI Jan.: +0.6% Feb.: +0.1% Tuesday PPI Core Jan.: +0.4% Feb.: +0.2% Wednesday CPI Jan.: +0.6% Feb.: unch Wednesday CPI Core Jan.: +0.3% Feb.: +0.2% Wednesday Empire State Manufacturing Feb.: 18.7 March: 15.0 Wednesday Retail Sales Jan.: +0.4% Feb.: +0.1% Wednesday ex-Autos Jan.: +0.8% Feb.: +0.2% Wednesday Business Inventories Dec.: +0.4% Jan.: +0.3% Wednesday NAHB Housing Index Feb.: 65 March: 65 Thursday Housing Starts Jan.: 1.246M Feb.: 1.260M Thursday Building Permits Jan.: 1.285M Feb.: 1.260M Thursday Initial Jobless Claims 3/4: 243,000 3/11: 240,000 Thursday Continuing Claims 2/25: 2.058M 3/4: 2.050M Thursday Philly Fed Manufacturing Feb.: 43.3 March: 30.0 Friday Industrial Production Jan.: -0.3% Feb.: +0.3% Friday Capacity Utilization Jan.: 75.3% March: 75.5% Friday Leading Indicators Jan.: +0.6% Feb.: +0.4% Friday Michigan Sentiment Feb.: 96.3 March: 97.0 Friday Current Conditions Feb.: 111.5 March: n/a Friday Expectations Feb.: 86.5 March: n/a

Government

Ohio’s Water Development Authority will sell $400 million of high-grade paper to fund a loan program on Tuesday.

It comes as no surprise that overall municipal primary market issuance is down during a week where the Federal Open Market Committee is meeting - the upcoming week is no different, especially considering the probability of an interest rate hike.

The Florida House Friday voted to abolish Enterprise Florida, the state’s business development program, and to establish strict controls over the Visit Florida tourism agency, drawing swift rebuke from Gov. Rick Scott.

California’s $2.79 billion March 7 general obligation bond sale was a marketplace success for the state, officials said, thought it didn’t price as strongly as the state’s big GO sale last year.