News and Information from Bond Buyer

Chicago is selling a positive budget message at its annual investor conference Wednesday, but the theme is obscured by the city’s pension albatross.

States only have until Aug. 20 to designate highway corridors where electric vehicle charging stations can be built under a new administration program that will provide $4.5 billion of loan guarantees to public-private partnerships and other collaborative efforts to develop and deploy a network of such stations.

Top-shelf municipal bonds were weaker at mid-session, traders said, with yields on some maturities rising by as much as five basis points.

Colleen Woodell, former chief credit officer of global and corporate government ratings with S&P Global Ratings, will become the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board’s new chair on Oct. 1.

The Associated Press Municipal Bond Index, AP’s first branded financial markets index to be introduced since Franklin D. Roosevelt’s presidency, launched Monday in preparation for a wider rollout later this year.

The Treasury Department Tuesday auctioned $50 billion of four-week bills at a 0.260% high yield, a price of 99.979778.

The Connecticut Housing Finance Authority plans to offer $185 million in bonds in August.

New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer lambasted City Hall for operational snafus in the sale of a Lower East Side nursing home to a luxury condominium developer.

Kansas started its fiscal year $12.8 million below the revenue forecast for July, continuing a trend that factored into a credit downgrade from Standard & Poor's.

New York City business activity "returned to cautious optimism after the short term pre-Brexit negativity seen in May and June," although the current business conditions index increased to 60.7 in July from 45.4 in June, the Institute for Supply Management-New York's Report on Business index, released Tuesday, indicated.

Municipal market participants are more than ready for deals to start hitting the screens, in what is expected to be one of the busiest days the primary has seen in a while, in one of the busiest weeks of the year so far.

Indicator Last Report Forecast Actual Personal Income May: +0.2% June: +0.3% June: +0.2% Consumption May: +0.4% June: +0.3% June: +0.4% Core PCE Price Index May: +0.2% June: +0.1% June: +0.1%

Moody's Investors Service has assigned a Baa1 rating to the city of New Haven, Conn.'s $121.8 million general obligation bonds, issue of 2016, Series A.

Monetary policy accommodation should be removed "in a gradual and patient manner," Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas President and CEO Robert S. Kaplan said in Beijing Tuesday.

Jonathan Davis, the retired chief financial officer of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, explores the challenges of mass transit nationwide with Bond Buyer Northeast regional editor Paul Burton. Davis drills down on core capacity, state of good repair, transit bond sales, security, the problems of the Washington Metro, millennial riders and the role of ride-sharing services Uber and Lyft as “first and last mile” for transit access.

Aug. 2, 2016 Southwest: Plain/Insured GO Yield Curve* State Ratings One-Year Five-Year 10-Year 30-Year Arizona Aa3/AA+/NR 0.51 0.97 1.62 2.36 Arkansas Aa1/AA/NR 0.47 0.89 1.49 2.21 Colorado Aa1/AA/NR 0.48 0.95 1.58 2.32 Kansas Aa2/AA/NR 0.48 0.94 1.58 2.3 New Mexico Aaa/AA+/NR 0.48 0.89 1.5 2.24 Oklahoma Aa2/AA+/AA+ 0.48 0.95 1.6 2.34 Texas Aaa/AAA/AAA 0.5 0.95 1.56 2.33 Utah Aaa/AAA/AAA 0.46 0.84 1.4 2.12

8/1/2016 7/25/2016 State Amount ($000s) Iss Amount ($000s) Chg in Amt ($000s) Arizona 3 $226,710 3 $226,710 $0 Arkansas 6 31,650 4 22,370 9,280 Colorado 3 36,215 1 3,900 32,315 Kansas 11 143,520 4 26,875 116,645 New Mexico 5 46,825 4 19,075 27,750 Oklahoma 2 150,700 1 128,700 22,000 Texas 55 2,977,475 22 324,455 2,653,020 Utah 0 0 0 0 0

Tuesday, August 2 Issuer St Description Amount

Tuesday, August 2 Issuer St Description Amount

Week Of August 1 Issuer St Description Amount