News and Information from Bond Buyer

The U.S. Virgin Islands governor says it may be impossible for the territory to make payroll as soon as Feb. 16, while the power authority executive director warns that the islands could suffer “rotating power outages, or worse, in the not too distant future.”

A majority of municipal bond market participants voting in the Live Market Survey at The Bond Buyer’s National Outlook Conference saw muni issuance at between $350 billion and $399 billion this year.

Underwriters interested in working on nearly $1 billion of planned borrowing by the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority over the next three years have until Friday to apply.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott urged the Texas Legislature to maintain funding for border security amid a state hiring freeze. He also called for school finance reform including school vouchers and a convention of states to amend the U.S. Constitution.

Top-rated municipal bonds finished mixed on Tuesday, according to traders, as the first of the week’s new issues hit the screens ahead of the Federal Reserve meeting on monetary policy.

Participants in last year's historic $2.4 billion public-private partnership to fund a $4 billion development of New York City's LaGuardia Airport hope the unique deal fuels similar bond transactions at other U.S. airports.

Chicago’s widening spread penalties may not ease until the state cleans up its budget mess and Chicago Public Schools shores up its rocky finances, because investors are wary of overlapping credit cluster risk.

Louisiana may rely on a P3 to finance the widening and other upgrades to Interstate 10 in Baton Rouge.

Municipal bond volume in January jumped ahead of last year's pace, as a spike in new money deals made up for a drop in refinancing transactions.

The sale of bankrupt Hanjin Shipping’s majority stake in a terminal operator that represented 30% of Port of Long Beach’s revenues in 2015 is a credit positive for the port.

American Samoa’s $78 million of general revenue bonds now have a negative outlook from Moody’s Investors Service

Democrats boycotted the Senate Finance Committee's planned vote Tuesday on the nomination of Treasury Secretary-designate Steven Mnuchin, temporarily preventing it from moving forward.

Top-rated municipal bonds were stronger at mid-session, according to traders, as the first of the week's new issues hit the screens ahead of the Federal Reserve meeting on monetary policy.

The bonds of 16 affordable housing properties affiliated with Global Ministries Fellowship were downgraded by S&P Global Ratings, sending 14 more of the credits to junk.

A federal judge has denied former Miami budget director Michael Boudreaux's motion for a new trial after a jury found him guilty of securities fraud for misleading municipal bond investors, but he is still exploring options for appeal, his lawyer said.

The Treasury Department Tuesday auctioned $20 billion of 364-day bills at a 0.810% high yield, a price of 99.181000.

The Treasury Department Tuesday auctioned $45 billion of four-week bills at a 0.490% high yield, a price of 99.961889.

With so much attention on job growth from both the outgoing and new administrations, we take a look at what the data, through the end of 2016, tells us about the employment situation relative to our population.

Texas service sector activity "continued to reflect expansion in January albeit at a slower pace," according to business executives responding to the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas' Texas Service Sector Outlook Survey, as the revenue index slid to 16.2 from 21.3.

Indicator Last Report Forecast Actual Emploment Cost Index Q3: +0.6% Q4: +0.6% Q4: +0.5% Chicago PMI Dec.: 53.9 Jan.: 55.0 Jan.: 50.3 Consumer Confidence Dec.: 113.3 Jan.: 112.9 Jan.: 111.8