News and Information from Bond Buyer

Day Indicator Last Report Forecast Tuesday Construction Spending June: -1.8% July: +1.0% Tuesday ISM Manufacturing July: 57.1 Aug.: 56.9 Wednesday Factory Orders June: +1.1% July: +11.0% Thursday International Trade June: -$41.5B July: -$42.2B Thursday Initial Jobless Claims 8/23: 298,000 8/30: 300,000 Thursday Continuing Claims 8/16: 2.527M 8/23: 2.510M Thursday Productivity Q1: -4.5% Q2: +2.5% Thursday Unit Labor Costs Q1: +11.8% Q2: +0.6% Thursday ISM Non-Manufacturing July: 58.7 Aug.: 57.6 Friday Nonfarm Payrolls July: +209,000 Aug.: +220,000 Friday Private Payrolls July: +198,000 Aug.: +206,000 Friday Manufacturing Payrolls July: +28,000 Aug.: +20,000 Friday Unemployment Rate July: 6.2% Aug.: 6.1% Friday Avg Hrly Earnings July: unch Aug.: +0.2% Friday Work Week July: 34.5 Aug.: 34.5

The holiday shortened week's volume will drop to just over half of last week's issuance, led by a $350 million Texas school offering.

Government

The New York Transit Museum will host a discussion on bus rapid transit expansion plans in New York City's demographically changing outer boroughs on Sept. 10.

The failure of an Alaska ballot initiative that would have overturned new oil production tax incentives was deemed a credit positive by Moody's Investors Service.

Rhode Island ended fiscal 2014 with a $68 million general fund surplus, said Gov. Lincoln Chafee.

The Michigan Finance Authority said it received orders from 30 firms on its $108 million state aid revenue note sale on behalf of Detroit Public Schools that saw a sharp drop from last year in interest rate penalties imposed on the struggling district.

Combined proposals from Texas issuers in November come to about $6.6 billion, with Austin leading the way with about $1 billion.

Eleven months after the close of fiscal 2013, Jefferson County, Ala.'s audit sheds little light on the county's financial condition since emerging from bankruptcy.

The municipal market should benefit from the Securities and Exchange Commission's prosecution of Kansas for inadequate disclosure of faltering pension obligations, according to Moody's Investors Service.

The judge overseeing Detroit's bankruptcy chastised bond insurer Syncora Guarantee Inc. for attacking federal mediators as biased and ordered the insurer to defend why it shouldn't face sanctions.

The 6.0-magnitude earthquake that struck California's Napa Valley Aug. 24 will not impact any municipal credits that Moody's Investors Service rates.

Moody's Investors Service slapped Burbank, Illinois with a downgrade and assigned a negative outlook to its A1 rating due to ongoing operating deficits and mounting pension woes.

Two Illinois based not-for-profit healthcare systems -- Northwestern Memorial Healthcare and Cadence Health – said they plan to complete their merger on Sept. 1.

The recently issued Texas tax ancipation revenue notes strengthened in secondary trading throughout the week, demonstrating the market’s insatiable appetite for protection against rising interest rates.

August's volume this year came in higher than it did for the same month during 2013, but analysts are divided over whether this means issuance will pick up for the rest of the year.

Puerto Rico Gov. Alejandro García Padilla said Thursday that a Puerto Rico tax reform proposal will be ready in October, which would be sooner than had been anticipated.

The opening of Greater Boston's first new subway station in 27 years is a credit positive for Somerville, Mass., said Moody's Investors Service.

A seven-member panel studying high-speed rail service in north Texas plans to seek federal funding to begin development of a line between Austin and Fort Worth.