News and Information from Bond Buyer

Government

MBIA, the municipal bond insurance giant, suffered a major customer data breach that exposed customer data of an asset-management subsidiary that Bank of New York Mellon has agreed to buy.

Muni Investors on Tuesday gobbled up the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey's $400 million of bonds subject to the alternative minimum tax and its $250 million of taxable bonds, traders said.

The cost of Maryland's Purple Line rail project has risen to $2.45 billion, up $21 million since September and almost $1.5 billion more than projected in 2007, according to the latest estimate by the Maryland Transit Administration.

Fitch Ratings has placed on Rating Watch Negative the following AA-rated St. Petersburg, Fla., Health Facilities Authority on behalf of All Children's Hospital (ACH): $63.6 million, series 2009A; $25.8 million, series 2007B; and $18.7 million, series 2002.

A mid-2015 liftoff on interest rates seems "reasonable" to Federal Reserve Bank of New York President and Chief Executive Officer William C. Dudley, who said Tuesday he expects to back ending the Fed asset purchase program when the Federal Open Market Committee meets on Oct. 28-29.

Consumer credit increased by $13.5 billion, or 5.0%, in August to $3.247 trillion, the Federal Reserve reported Tuesday.

Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District, one of the largest and fastest-growing in Texas, was upgraded by Moody's Investors Service as it headed to market with $463 million of new money and refunding bonds.

Puerto Rico Gov. Alejandro García Padilla signed legislation on Tuesday to allow the commonwealth to sell up to $1.2 billion in tax and revenue anticipation notes.

A new quantitative fiscal review of four Chicago charter schools and networks ranks two as financially healthy while the other two face negative trends that could hinder their long term prospects.

Noting that inflation below 2% "is just as much of a problem" as inflation greater than 2%, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis President Narayana Kocherlakota called on the Fed to set a "benchmark two-year time horizon" to get inflation to 2% and added it would be "inappropriate" to raise rates next year.

The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power received across-the-board AA-minus affirmations from the three largest rating agencies ahead of plans to price $450 million in power system revenue bonds.

The Treasury Department Tuesday auctioned $27 billion of three-year notes with a 7/8% coupon at a 0.994% yield, a price of 99.649129.

Municipal issuers need to understand the thinking inside the Securities and Exchange Commission’s enforcement division, take steps to protect themselves, and think about whether fundamental changes to muni market regulation might be in their best interests, said former SEC lawyer Peter Chan.

Puerto Rico debt firmed slightly on Tuesday morning upon news of the commonwealth's Senate approving a short-term bond issuance, according to multiple traders. However, Tuesday's light volume showed that market participants' consensus was far from unanimous that the island has seen its last problems.

Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard is embarking on his third major public-private partnership, to build a new criminal justice center that would mark the largest social-infrastructure P3 structured with availability payments to date.

The Treasury Department Tuesday auctioned $32 billion of four-week bills at a 0.010% high yield, a price of 99.999222.

Wall Street generated $8.7 billion in profits in the first half of 2014, down 13% from a similar time last year, suggesting "broker/dealer operations of New York Stock Exchange member firms" profits may be lower than last year's, according to a report from New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli.

Taxable issuance will dominate the day's primary market, giving borrowers flexibility with proceeds, but pushing away more traditional municipal bond buyers.

Marc Hughes joined Mesirow Financial last week after being laid off as head of Municipal Investment Banking for Mitsubishi UFJ Securities in a downsizing of that firm's West Coast long-term municipal bond team.