News and Information from Bond Buyer

Day Indicator Last Report Forecast Tuesday Wholesale Inventories Nov.: +0.5% Dec.: +0.6% Tuesday Wholesale Sales Nov.: +1.0% Dec.: +0.7% Wednesday Treasury Budget Dec.: +$53.2B Jan.: n/a Thursday Initial Claims 2/1: 331,000 2/8: n/a Thursday Cont. Claims 1/25: 2.964M 2/1: n/a Thursday Retail Sales Dec.: +0.2% Jan.: +0.3% Thursday ex-Autos Dec.: +0.7% Jan.: +0.3% Thursday Business Inventories Nov.: +0.4% Dec.: +0.5% Friday Import Prices Dec.: +0.4% Jan.: +0.1% Friday Industrial Production Dec.: +0.3% Jan.: +0.3% Friday Capacity Utilization Dec.: 79.2 Jan.: 79.3 Friday U. of Mich. Sentiment Jan.: 81.2 Feb.: n/a Friday U. of Mich. Current Jan.: 96.8 Feb.: n/a Friday U. of Mich. Expectations Jan.: 71.2 Feb.: n/a

Sizeable deals planned in New York, Louisiana, and Texas won't do much to relieve a drought in supply this week as volume is expected to fall below $3 billion on the heels of last week's oversubscribed Illinois deal and a second Puerto Rico downgrade.

Treasury Secretary Jack Lew warned Congress on Friday that the federal government will reach the debt limit by Feb. 27, having exhausted all of the extraordinary measures it can take – such as halting muni issuer purchases of state and local government series securities – to avoid it.

Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., the incoming chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, said Friday that he is a very strong supporter of Build America Bonds to finance infrastructure projects.

A two-notch downgrade by Moody's on Puerto Rico bonds late Friday sent retail investors fleeing from the commonwealth's debt, now labeled junk by two ratings services.

Government

Moody's Investors Service on Friday delivered a two-notch downgrade to Puerto Rico's general obligation bonds, a deeper, more far reaching cut than the one imposed by Standard & Poor's three days earlier.

Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport plans to welcome the arrival of an Airbus A380 double-decker jumbo jet at a new gate in October.

Northside Independent School District has approved a $648.34 million bond election for May 10 for renovations and new schools.

Detroit officially ended an interest-rate swap termination agreement with its counterparties Thursday, a move that the city says preserves its right to pursue legal action against the banks, but said talks with the banks continue.

Cuts in Barclays' investment banking units claimed at least 10 municipal professionals in the firm's top-10 ranked municipal broker-dealer, according to numerous sources.

Michigan officials agreed to step in to assist foundering negotiations between Detroit and neighboring counties over Detroit's water and sewer system considered key to the city's restructuring, Oakland County officials said.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is examining the extent to which dealers using alternative trading systems and broker's brokers are engaged in anti-competitive practices such as blocking or filtering out competitors from being able to bid on their municipal securities.

Consumer credit increased by $18.7 billion, or 7.3%, in December to $3.106 trillion, the Federal Reserve reported Friday.

Port of Houston Deputy executive director Roger Guenther moves into the top job after Leonard Waterworth ends his two-year tenure.

Standard & Poor's outlook shifts to stable from negative on a Vail Valley golf community whose private club was tied up in bankruptcy and litigation.

Standard & Poor's Ratings Services said it raised its long-term rating and underlying rating to A from A-minus on the Illinois Finance Authority's series 2008A and 2008B fixed-rate bonds issued for Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago (Lurie Children's, formerly Children's Memorial Hospital).

A court's validation of bonds to finance part of the Atlanta Falcon's new stadium may be contested by neighbors of the site, according to the city-based Saporta Report.

Standard & Poor's Ratings Services said it raised its long-term rating to AA-minus from A-plus on Chetek-Weyerhaeuser Area School District, Wis.'s general obligation debt

The federal Department of Transportation signs off on an $840 million loan to a seven-county toll road system around Houston.