News and Information from Bond Buyer

California high-speed rail officials said they plan to start the $64.2 billion project in the north, rather than in the south.

Hunton & Williams LLP has hired David Horner as a partner to work in the firm's infrastructure public-private partnerships practice.

Squire Patton Boggs, a leading muni bond firm, is merging with the San Francisco-based international litigation firm of Carroll, Burdick & McDonough.

The National Association of Bond Lawyers is urging the Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service to create special, more lenient issue price rules for competitive transactions, particularly small deals.

Standard & Poor’s revised Huntington Park, Calif.’s outlook to stable citing concerns about the city’s operating deficits.

The Midwest lagged the national uptick in issuance last year as the conservative region did take advantage of low interest rates to refund debt but held tight the purse strings on new money borrowing.

The Treasury Department Tuesday auctioned $26 billion of two-year notes with a 3/4% coupon at a 0.752% yield, a price of 99.996037.

Top-quality municipal bonds were weaker around midday traders said, with yields on some maturities strengthening by as much as five basis points.

The Federal Open Market Committee needs to be patient and perhaps hold off on rate increases, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas President Robert Kaplan said in an interview published Tuesday.

The Treasury Department Tuesday auctioned $55 billion of four-week bills at a 0.285% high yield, a price of 99.977833.

Indicator Last Report Forecast Actual Consumer Confidence Jan.: 97.8 Feb.: 97.3 Feb.: 92.2 Existing Home Sales Dec.: 5.45M Jan.: 5.38M Jan.: 5.47M

A $34.8 billion 2017 fiscal budget proposed by New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie will weaken the state's credit position and increase the chances of future bond downgrades if enacted, according to Municipal Market Analytics.

The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority paid out an estimated $236 million in net swap interest the past 15 years, said a Pioneer Institute report.

Service sector activity "slowed in February," according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond service-sector activity survey, released Tuesday.

Manufacturing activity in the central Atlantic region "slowed in February," according to the monthly business activity survey conducted by the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, as the manufacturing index dipped to negative 4 in February from positive 2 in January.

The consumer confidence index dropped to 92.2 in February from a revised 97.8 last month, The Conference Board reported Tuesday.

Existing home sales grew 0.4% to a seasonally adjusted 5.47 million-unit rate in January from a downwardly revised 12.1% increase to a 5.45 million pace the previous month, the National Association of Realtors announced Tuesday.

Top-quality municipal bonds were weaker in early activity, traders said, with yields on some maturities strengthening by as much as three basis points.

The region's non-manufacturing sector dropped in February, as the general business conditions index slid to 3.6 from 5.1 in January, this month's Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia Report on Business indicates.

Nicole Gelinas, senior fellow for the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, talks with Bond Buyer senior Northeast reporter Paul Burton about New York regional transportation issues, including the proposed new Penn Station.