News and Information from Bond Buyer

Week Of February 3 Issuer St Description Amount

MINNESOTA

FLORIDA

A lack of follow-through in secondary trading and continued underperformance compared with Treasuries marked the end of a lackluster Monday in the municipal market, as yields were mostly unchanged.

The SEC and former JPMorgan bankers asked a federal court to exclude experts in the pay-to-play suit involving Jefferson County, Ala.'s sewer deals.

The Public Finance Network, elected public officials and dealer groups are urging bank regulators to categorize municipal securities as high quality liquid assets in a proposed rule, warning the failure to do so would significantly harm the municipal market and state and local governments.

Government

Bernard B. Beal, a veteran municipal banker with more than 30 years experience, has joined the Oakland, Calif.-based minority-owned investment bank and financial services company Blaylock Robert Van LLC.

Puerto Rico's plan to adopt a balanced budget may not be enough to sway the ratings agencies considering downgrading the commonwealth.

Congress should not wait until the 11th hour to increase the nation's borrowing authority, and there are areas such as infrastructure investment and tax reform where it may be able to act in a bipartisan manner to help the economy, Treasury Secretary Jack Lew said Monday.

The Securities and Exchange Commission will spend the next few years acting on the recommendations in its 2012 municipal market report as well as strengthening muni advisor oversight, according to the SEC's draft strategic plan released Monday.

Contingent liabilities for nonessential, noncore enterprises pose huge credit risk for some local governments, Moody's said in a report that cited Harrisburg.

Moody's Investors Service upgraded North Providence, R.I.'s general obligation bond rating to A3 from Baa1, affecting $25.4 million in debt.

Public finance attorney Bryan Victor, who has worked on a number of transactions for California, has been named partner at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP.

The Treasury Department will borrow an estimated $284 billion of debt in the first quarter of 2014, it announced Monday, and will end the quarter with a $130 billion cash balance.

Banks generally eased lending standards on loans and saw greater demand, except for mortgages, where as many banks tightened standards as eased and demand fell, according to the January 2014 Senior Loan Officer Opinion Survey on Bank Lending Practices, released by the Fed Monday.

U.S. public finance rating actions trended heavily positive during the fourth quarter of 2013 for two reasons, said Standard & Poor's Ratings Services in a report published Monday.

There was little trading activity to speak of midday Monday as municipals underperformed Treasuries and traders bemoaned the light volume ahead of a few larger deals later in the week.

Cook Children's Hospital, the dominant provider of children's healthcare in Fort Worth, Texas, is planning its second expansion in five years with $175 million of bonds.

Texas' economy will continue to grow briskly in 2014 as state government keeps a tight lid on spending, according to experts at The Bond Buyer's Texas Public Finance Conference.