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Government

In Chicago’s second dose of good airport credit news, Standard & Poor's on Tuesday raised O’Hare International Airport’s ratings by one level as the city heads into the market next week with $2 billion of mostly refunding debt.

At a state Senate hearing, Michigan treasury officials pushed back hard against a bill that would give local unlimited-tax general obligation bondholders a statutory lien.

Key Senate Republicans made clear during a Senate Finance Committee hearing on Tuesday that they do not intend to move forward with bills providing Chapter 9 bankruptcy protection for Puerto Rico’s authorities and instead want more information on the territory’s struggling finances and $71 billion of debt as well as how to fix them.

Tight liquidity is a bigger problem than high debt for Puerto Rico’s government, Cumberland Advisors vice president Michael Comes said Tuesday.

Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder unveiled a new pilot program that will have state officials mentoring local officials of 10 struggling communities across the state.

Moody's Investors Service has downgraded about $23 million of Sonoma Valley Health Care District, Calif. general obligation bonds to Baa1 from A1.

Arizona will have about a third of the money it needs to maintain roads and bridges over the next 25 years, according to the state auditor.

UBS Financial Services of Puerto Rico agreed to pay $34 million to settle charges by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority and Securities and Exchange Commission that it failed to supervise the suitability of transactions in Puerto Rican closed-end fund shares, as well as a former broker who had customers invest in those CEFs using money borrowed from an affiliated bank.

Hawaii's Maui County received affirmations on its AA-plus-level ratings for the fifth year running ahead of plans on Oct. 7 to sell $61 million in general obligation bonds competitively.

Prices of top-rated municipal bonds finished stronger on Tuesday, traders said, with yields on some maturities weakening by as much as three basis points. In the primary, traders saw two new deals from issuers in California and Washington state hit the screens.

Chicago's steep borrowing costs should come down if the City Council adopts Mayor Rahm Emanuel's proposed 2016 budget and property tax hikes, the city's chief financial officer, Carole Brown, told council members.

A bond investor’s suspicions triggered a municipal bond trustee’s firing of a vice president but the question remains: what happened to more than $2 million?

House Majority Leader and top candidate to replace Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio as House Speaker, says he’s confident Congress will pass a multiyear highway bill in October.

Gov. Rick Snyder wants lawmakers to tackle his controversial restructuring of Detroit Public Schools, but his office has yet to release the legislation outlining the proposal.

The Treasury Department Tuesday auctioned $25 billion of four-week bills at a 0.000% high yield, a price of 100.000000.

Interactive Data announced on Tuesday the launch of its Liquidity Indicators Service for municipal and corporate bonds. The service will let subscribers access a series of security- and portfolio-level “Liquidity Indicators,” which are aimed at helping companies manage liquidity risk in any type of economic cycle, the company said.

Prices of top-rated municipal bonds were stronger at mid-session, traders said, with yields on some maturities weakening by as much as three basis points. In the primary, traders saw some new deals from issuers in California and Washington state hit the screens.

The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index®, which had increased in August, improved moderately in September.