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Government

New York State Environmental Facilities Corp.'s sale of $213.2 million of revolving funds revenue bonds attracted demand in a softening municipal bond market Tuesday, as investors gravitated to debt from the infrequent issuer.

Standard & Poor's June 2 raised its long-term and underlying rating to AA-plus from AA on San Bruno, Calif.'s pension obligation bonds and certificates of participation, impacting nearly $23 million in debt.

Puerto Rico's April economic measures were mixed, with its economic activity index down but its unemployment rate also down.

Senate Appropriations subcommittee approved legislation that would keep federal highway funding at 2014 levels next year while increasing transit spending by $310 million.

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti launched a Great Streets initiative by announcing on June 3 the first 15 streets that will be targeted in the city.

San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee released his spending plan for the next two years, which includes a $500 million general obligation bond, and investing $94 million in affordable housing projects.

The Chicago Park District is headed into the market with a $208 million new-money, refunding, and restructuring sale that helps lay the ground work for covering higher future pension contributions.

Carla A. Young, a former shareholder at Greenberg Traurig and Internal Revenue Service official, has joined Nixon Peabody as a tax partner in its public finance group.

The certificates of participation in two of the large negotiated deals scheduled to price this week offer a way for investors to diversify their portfolios, market participants say.

Two more Ohio school districts have disclosed they are authorized to redeem BABs they issued in 2010 because of reduced subsidy payments due to sequestration.

Frank Caprio, if he regains the Rhode Island treasurer's office, wants to go after the bond rating agencies as controversy simmers over 38 Studios.

Municipal market issuers should disclose bank loans even if there is no regulatory requirement to do so in order to avoid credit concerns, market experts said Tuesday.

Rate hikes will probably be needed "sooner and at a faster pace" than the Federal Open Market Committee projects Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City President and CEO Esther L. George said Tuesday.

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board plans to soon unveil a new price discovery tool on EMMA that will allow investors to compare the prices and yields of municipal securities that share the same characteristics.

The Treasury Department Tuesday sold $25 billion 14-day cash management bills, dated June 5, due June 19, at a 0.050% high tender rate.

The Treasury Department Tuesday auctioned $35 billion of four-week bills at a 0.035% high yield, a price of 99.997278.

The $200 million San Antonio, Texas, electric and gas systems junior lien revenue bonds priced by Barclays Capital on Tuesday will be wolfed up because they appeal to investors who like Texas paper and investors ravenous for power bonds, market participants said.

The Illinois General Assembly's failure to extend the 2011 income tax hike ahead of its partial expiration next year could negatively pressure the state's already weak credit rating, Moody's Investors Service warned.

Standard & Poor's raised its general obligation bond rating of Westborough, Mass., to AAA.