News and Information from Bond Buyer

Federal Open Market Committee communications have been "useful, but … incomplete," Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis Senior Vice President and Director of Research Sam Schulhofer-Wohl writes in its annual report.

Indicator Last Report Forecast Actual NAHB Housing Index April: 56 May: 57 May: 54

Builders' confidence in the market for new single-family homes fell as the National Association of Home Builders' housing market index to 54 in May from 56 in April.

The New York region's service sector activity "expanded moderately," according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York's May Business Leaders Survey, released Monday.

Tuesday, May 19 Issuer St Description Amount

Monday, May 18 Issuer St Description Amount

Week Of May 18 Issuer St Description Amount

Week Of May 18 Issuer St Description Amount

CALIFORNIA

ALABAMA

Day Indicator Last Report Forecast Monday NAHB Housing Index April: 56 May: 57.0 Tuesday Housing Starts March: 926,000 April: 1.019M Tuesday Building Permits March: 1.039M April: 1.065M Thursday Initial Jobless Claims 5/9: 264,000 5/16: 270,000 Thursday Continuing Claims 5/2: 2.229M 5/9: 2.228M Thursday Existing Home Sales March: 5.190M April: 5.240M Thursday Leading Indicators March: +0.2% April: +0.3% Thursday Philly Fed Manufacturing April: 7.5 April: 8.2 Friday CPI March: +0.2% April: +0.1% Friday CPI Core March: +0.2% April: +0.2%

May. 18, 2015 Northeast: Plain/Insured GO Yield Curve* State Ratings One-Year Five-Year 10-Year 30-Year Connecticut Aa3/AA/AA 0.29 1.7 2.68 3.73 Delaware Aaa/AAA/AAA 0.22 1.4 2.25 3.25 Maine Aa2/AA/AA 0.23 1.44 2.33 3.35 Maryland Aaa/AAA/AAA 0.22 1.42 2.26 3.25 Massachusetts Aa1/AA+/AA+ 0.24 1.51 2.45 3.45 New Hampshire Aa1/AA/AA+ 0.24 1.48 2.37 3.35 New Jersey A1/A/A 0.44 2.05 3.13 4.11 New York Aa1/AA+/AA+ 0.22 1.41 2.3 3.41 Pennsylvania Aa3/AA+/AA+ 0.27 1.77 2.69 3.73 Rhode Island Aa2/AA/AA 0.29 1.62 2.57 3.6 Vermont Aaa/AA+/AAA 0.22 1.41 2.3 3.28 Dist. of Columbia Aa1/AA/AA 0.27 1.53 2.46 3.5 Puerto Rico B2/BB/BB+ 8.22 10.4 9.85 8.2

5/15/2015 5/8/2015 State # Iss Amount ($000s) # Iss Amount ($000s) Chg in Amt ($000s) Connecticut 5 $502,780 $2 $510,000 -$7,220 Delaware 0 0 0 0 0 Maine 0 0 1 11,190 -11,190 Maryland 2 498,970 5 554,405 -55,435 Massachusetts 2 113,570 7 109,521 4,049 New Hampshire 0 0 0 0 0 New Jersey 7 83,009 5 244,735 -161,726 New York 15 1,363,232 12 283,192 1,080,040 Pennsylvania 17 1,050,735 19 867,640 183,095 Rhode Island 1 593,655 1 593,655 0 Vermont 0 0 1 94,430 -94,430 District of Columbia 0 0 0 0 0 Puerto Rico 0 0 0 0 0

Government

New York City will end the fiscal year with a surplus of just over $3 billion, the Independent Budget Office said, nearly matching Mayor Bill de Blasio’s projections.

The Orange County Water District board voted to approve a water reliability agreement term sheet with Poseidon Water, developer of a desalination plant.

With its battered credit threatened by more downgrades, Chicago heads into the bond market with a new sense of urgency to convert its floating-rate general obligation debt to fixed.

The municipal bond market saw its share of ups and downs this past week as the Arizona Salt River Project’s $1 billion bond issue met with a good reception, municipal bond funds saw continued cash outflows, and the City of Chicago was hit with three credit rating agency downgrades.

Veteran Chicago-based public finance banker Carole Brown is headed to City Hall to take charge of the city’s battered finances as chief financial officer.

Michigan lawmakers have an additional $218 million to play with as they craft a new budget, economists said Friday.