News and Information from Bond Buyer

Lawmakers in Illinois have proposed legislation to consolidate the Chicago Transit Authority, Metra, Pace and the Regional Transportation Authority.

As we continue to keep an eye out on commercial downtowns around the country, during this discussion we will focus on: Current projections: are people expected to return to offices or that is no longer in the cards?, Impact of vacancies on the property values, Addressing homelessness facing large urban centers, What efforts have been underway to address the current situation impacting commercial space in urban downtowns?

April's "poor performance" pushed munis further into negative territory, but "despite the poor start to the year, they may still end the year positive," said Cooper Howard, a fixed-income strategist at Charles Schwab.

The driving force behind the trend is the overall strength of the economy, according to Fitch Ratings' Michael Rinaldi. Revenue sources for municipalities, such as sales and property taxes, are doing very well. 

Syncora and GoldenTree Asset Management want an accounting of what happened to PREPA net revenues.

The MSRB's move to a one-minute reporting standard was questioned in a House hearing Tuesday in the context of regulation that could go too far.

"It'll be very interesting to see when an event happens or the market get sloppy, what the secondary market does," said a sellside panelist at a Bond Buyer market outlook panel in Florida.

Delivery delays for Boeing planes are impacting airports, with Southwest Airlines recently announcing it is pulling out or reducing flights at some facilities.

The rating agency revised the outlook on the state's AA general obligation rating to positive from stable and said there is a one-in-three chance of a future rating upgrade.

"We remain cautious with respect to duration given the uncertain macro and geopolitical environment though optically, yields seem attractive in the current range," said Wells Fargo's Vikram Rai.

New York Fed President John Williams said the Fed "will cut rates eventually" during a fireside chat at Milken Institute's Global conference on Monday.

There is a town hall scheduled for Monday, according to a source.

This week's deal will fund accelerated pension payments and Rebuild Illinois expenditures. A $250 million piece will be taxable.

Josh Shapiro proposed $500 million of bonds for site development in his executive budget. But site development has its risks, and the returns may take time.

In the wake of Citi's and UBS's exit from the municipal industry, other firms are seizing the opportunity to expand with new hires.

A supply surge hits the market as The Bond Buyer 30-day visible bond volume ticks in at $17.67 billion, $10 billion of which will come the first full week of May, just as macroeconomic data moves all markets to rally.

The latest revision of Oklahoma's fossil fuel "boycotter" list added Barclays, which joins three other municipal bond underwriters placed there last year.

Hawaii Gov. Josh Green's last-minute attempt to resuscitate a bill that would have allowed Hawaii Electric Co. to issue debt, backed by a rate increase, failed.

The Oversight Board has given the local government until Tuesday to introduce a bill to revoke or amend a law that would reduce the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority's revenues.

Assured's controlling vote is "important to investors who were reassured to hear that there would be a large sophisticated party with a significant economic interest in the success of the project," the insurer said.