News and Information from Bond Buyer

Illinois cleared out its previous fiscal year's bills at the quickest pace since 2009 but its fiscal position could deteriorate as bills are again mounting and the income tax windfall of last April won't be repeated, the state comptroller warns in quarterly report.

Atlanta Federal Reserve Bank President Dennis Lockhart Friday called the October jobs report positive, but said proof of an entrenched jobs recovery would be needed for the Fed to begin to consider dialing back its $85 billion a month in asset purchases.

Moody's Investors Service said it has assigned a Aa2 rating to Dutchess County, N.Y.'s $6.2 million public improvement serial bonds, 2013, and downgraded to Aa2 from Aa1 the county's $107.7 million in outstanding general obligation debt, the outlook has changed to stable from negative.

Atlanta Federal Reserve Bank President Dennis Lockhart Friday offered up a cautiously positive outlook for 2014, with concern about the fiscal drag and how that will impact consumer spending, and he called for monetary policy to remain very accommodative "for quite some time."

Stockton's vote to approve raising the sales tax is a credit positive for the city and for its bond insurers as it increases the likelihood that the bankruptcy exit plan will be approved, according to Moody's Investors Service.

Moody's Investors Service said it has downgraded to A2 from A1 the senior lien revenue bonds of the New York State Thruway Authority.

Natwar Gandhi, the District of Columbia's chief financial officer, says that while it's time to retire from his post, he would have liked to have explored the idea of a public-private partnership to fund the district's infrastructure needs and find a way to help the poor given the city's narrow tax base.

The Bond Buyer this week announced the finalists for its 12th annual Deal of the Year Awards.

The New York City Municipal Water Finance Authority intends to sell $375 million of new money bonds on Wednesday, after a one-day retail order period.

The State University of New York promised to restore ambulance service to Brooklyn's Long Island College Hospital on Friday after opponents of the facility's closure threatened legal action, arguing the cancellation violated a Sept. 4 court order.

Two bond insurers sued Detroit Friday for defaulting on its general obligation bonds, a challenge that goes to the heart of the city's unprecedented effort to treat its unlimited-tax GO debt as unsecured.

An agreement on funding new and renewed transportation infrastructure could be the basis of a bipartisan budget deal, President Barack Obama said Friday at the Port of New Orleans in south Louisiana.

The Securities and Exchange Commission Friday announced that LeeAnn Gaunt will lead its enforcement division's municipal securities and public pensions unit, replacing Elaine Greenberg, who left to join a law firm.

LeeAnn Ghazil Gaunt has been appointed chief of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Enforcement Division’s Municipal Securities and Public Pensions Unit, the SEC announced.

Despite weathering the 2008 financial crisis relatively unscathed, Philadelphia continues to face a challenge when it comes to controlling pension costs, the city’s Treasurer Nancy E. Winkler explained at the Bloomberg State & Municipal Finance Conference in New York on Nov. 6.

Commercial real estate investors are moving to smaller markets and buying suburban properties as they search for higher returns after snapping up the most desirable buildings in the biggest U.S. cities, Bloomberg news reports. Demand for office buildings, retail centers and warehouses in cities such as Reno, Nevada; Greensboro, North Carolina; and Louisville, Kentucky, is surging as yields shrink for real estate on the coasts and in larger cities. Properties on the outskirts of major metropolitan areas also are attracting interest, with prices for suburban offices rising faster than downtown real estate, according to an index compiled by Moody’s Investors Service and Real Capital Analytics Inc.

The municipal bond market was weaker Friday morning, following a big jump in Treasury yields, after a much better than expected employment report showed the economy added 204,000 jobs in October.

The University of Michigan's preliminary November consumer sentiment index reading was 72.0, compared to the final October 73.2, the preliminary October 75.2 reading, and the final September 77.5, according to market sources.