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Standard & Poor's Ratings Services lowered its ratings on the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico's tax-backed debt to 'CC' from 'CCC-' and removed the ratings from CreditWatch, where they had been placed with negative implications July 20. The outlook is negative.

Market participants expressed some criticisms of the alternative method for determining issue price under rules proposed in June and said it was unlikely to be used very often.

Municipal bond funds again saw outflows in the latest week, according to Lipper data released on Thursday. Weekly reporting funds experienced $95.986 million of outflows in the week ended Sept. 9, after seeing outflows of $586.481 million in the previous week, Lipper reported.

California’s August revenues came in $637.8 million higher than the amount anticipated when the 2015-16 budget passed in July, according to the state controller’s office.

Government

The Illinois Finance Authority board advanced nearly $400 million of new borrowing plans at its meeting Thursday in deals that highlight the popularity of direct placements.

In the week ended Sept. 10, the weekly average yield to maturity of the Bond Buyer Municipal Bond Index was up two basis points to 4.44% from 4.42% in the previous week. The BB40 Index is based on the price of 40 long-term bonds.

The city of Lebanon, Ore. is preparing to issue more than $14 million of refunding debt.

Florida legislators can expect a $635 million windfall in the fiscal 2017 budget as state officials plan for new tax cuts amid rising health care costs, a new study said.

Should industry practices on pricing new bonds change in the wake of the SEC’s enforcement case against Edward Jones?

Prices of top-quality municipal bonds finished weaker on Thursday, according to traders, as the market saw more new deals hit the screens, topped by the North Texas Tollway Authority System's $768 million bond sale.

Standard & Poor's has upgraded Eureka Redevelopment Agency, Calif. to BBB-plus from BBB, citing improved cash management.

Falling oil prices caused Texas sales tax revenues to sag in August, bringing the state’s income slightly below projections for the 2015 fiscal year, Comptroller Glenn Hegar reported.

Illinois-based College of DuPage fired its top two fiscal managers – treasurer Thomas Glaser and controller Lynn Sapyta – accusing the two of violating school investment practices and other internal rules.

Fitch Ratings released a draft on Thursday detailing changes to its U.S. tax-supported bond rating criteria. The rating agency said it expects less than 10% of the ratings covered would be affected.