News and Information from Bond Buyer

Chicago heads back into the market Wednesday to convert $112 million of floating-rate sales tax-backed bonds to a fixed rate, further chipping away at bank credit risks that posed a $2.2 billion liquidity risk.

Standard & Poor's Ratings Services said it raised its rating on Paramus Borough Board of Education, N.J.'s series 2012 general obligation refunding bonds one notch to AA-plus from AA.

Fitch says states will delay transportation projects due to uncertainty over the most recent short-term extension of the federal HTF.

The Texas Legislature’s 84th Session closed with a $209 billion biennial budget, $3 billion of bonds for university construction and a proposed $3 billion of additional funding for highways.

Peter Serreze has joined as Of Counsel in the Boston office of Locke Lord LLP, after leaving his position as a member of tax and public finance practice groups at Ropes & Gray LLP where he worked for the last 15 years.

Dealer groups and banks remain highly concerned that the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board's proposed core municipal advisor rule could limit the services they offer, while non-dealer advisors told the Securities and Exchange Commission that the proposal needs more clarification in several ways.

Prices of top-rated municipal bonds were steady at mid-session, according to traders, as the New York City general obligation bond issue was set for day two of its retail pricing.

Tender rates for the Treasury Department's latest 91-day and 182-day discount bills were lower, as the three-months incurred a 0.010% high rate, down from 0.015% the prior week, and the six-months incurred a 0.070% high rate, off from 0.085% the week before.

The Treasury Department said it will auction $30 billion 12-day cash management bills on June 2.

The Treasury Department said Monday it will sell $35 billion of four-week discount bills Tuesday.

Indicator Last Report Forecast Actual Personal Income March: unch April: +0.3% April: +0.4% Consumption March: +0.5% April: +0.2% April: unch Core PCE Prices March: +0.1% April: +0.2% April: +0.1% Constuction Spending March: +0.5% April: +0.8% April: +2.2% ISM Manufacturing April: 51.5 May: 52.0 May: 52.8

The Government Finance Officers Association is trying to galvanize public officials to pressure federal banking regulators into more permissive rules classifying municipal securities as high-quality liquid assets under the liquidity coverage ratio (LCR) rule adopted last year.

The overall economy grew for the seventy-second straight time, while the manufacturing sector expanded for the twenty-ninth consecutive month, the Institute for Supply Management reported Monday.

Build America Mutual and Lumesis, Inc. announced a joint initiative to improve investors’ access to municipal bond credit information by making BAM’s Obligor Disclosure Brief (ODB) credit summaries available to users of Lumesis’ DIVER Advisor platform.

Construction spending increased 2.2% in April, the Commerce Department said Monday, and is 4.8% above the April 2014 level.

Real gross domestic product growth will slow to 2.1% this year from 2.4% last year before surging to 2.7% in 2016, according to participants in the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago annual Automotive Outlook Symposium.

With federal funds in short supply, Texas' largest public housing authority is using tax credits and private activity bonds to give federal housing projects a new lease on life.

With Illinois' credit rating hanging in the balance, the state's spring legislative session ended in gridlock with passage of a $36 billion budget labeled by Gov. Bruce Rauner as "phony."

Urging "continued patience" on monetary policy because conditions haven't been met, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston President Eric Rosengren suggested Monday economic weakness may not be a transitory event.

A long-term transportation bill offered by the Senate Finance Committee would be likely to include some new type of private-activity bond, a Government Finance Officers Association official said here.