News and Information from Bond Buyer

Standard & Poor's Ratings Services said it raised its rating to AA from AA-minus on Skyway Water and Sewer District, Wash.'s water and sewer revenue bonds.

The Internal Revenue Service has closed an audit of series 2005E and series 2007B hospital revenue bonds issued by the Highlands County, Fla. Health Facilities Authority with no change to the bonds’ tax-exempt status.

The four largest deals of the week came to market Tuesday cheaper than where they priced on Monday as a weakening Treasury market and flood of supply forced issuers to raise yields.

California is set to sell $300 million of floating rate general obligation bonds this week to finance various air safety and transportation projects.

If approved, Stockton’s plan to exit bankruptcy identifies negotiation strategies, legal ambiguities, and potential consequences for future municipal bankruptcies, according to Fitch Ratings.

Joseph J. Roberts, a director of institutional sales at M&T Securities Inc., has decided to step down at the end of 2013 following a 48-year career in the financial markets, mostly in the municipal bond industry.

Former JPMorgan bankers argue that bankrupt Jefferson County, Ala.'s swap transactions are outside the Securities and Exchange Commission’s purview.

The Illinois State Toll Highway Authority plans to borrow $900 million of new money next year to help support its 15-year, $12 billion capital program.

The Greater Wenatchee, Wash., Regional Events Center Public Facilities District has agreed to pay $20,000 — the first financial penalty the SEC has assessed against a municipal bond issuer — to settle Securities and Exchange Commission charges that it misled investors of bonds used to finance the construction of an events center and ice hockey arena.

The Treasury Department Tuesday auctioned $45 billion of four-week bills at a 0.050% high yield, a price of 99.996111.

If approved, Stockton's Plan for the Adjustment of Debts (plan of adjustment) identifies negotiation strategies, legal ambiguities, and their potential consequences for future municipal bankruptcies in California and elsewhere, according to a Fitch Ratings report.

Brownstone Investment Group, a fixed income investment firm, brought aboard former Morgan Stanley trader Matthew Martines as managing director to expand its municipal bond trading and electronic market-making units.

The week's largest deals were set to price for institutions Tuesday morning, commanding most of the market's attention and the secondary took a back seat.

The U.S. services sector expanded at a slightly faster pace in October as the non-manufacturing business activity composite index was 55.4 in the month, compared to 54.4 in September, on a seasonally adjusted basis, the Institute for Supply Management reported Tuesday.

Boston Federal Reserve Bank President Eric Rosengren Tuesday declared his dissatisfaction with the current pace of jobs growth in the United States, indicating he might not be ready to support scaling back the Fed's aggressive bond buying aimed at spurring the recovery.

The New York Common Retirement Fund’s global equity commitment threshold rose by $800 million in new and add-on investments in September, according to an article in Investment Management Mandate Pipeline. Listed in the September monthly transaction report, Artisan Partners, PENN Capital Management and FIS Group were the beneficiaries of the new investments, Michael Giardiina writes.

Treasury Under Secretary for International Affairs Lael Brainard will be leaving her job Friday, the department confirmed Tuesday, as the White House is believed to be preparing to nominate her to the Federal Reserve Board.

Voters today select mayors in New York, Boston and Detroit, governors in New Jersey and Virginia, and decide ballot issues in six states in the biggest test for the parties since the Tea Party-led U.S. government shutdown, Bloomberg news reports. Politicos are watching for what today’s so-called off-year election may portend for congressional balloting next year, especially after the government’s 16-day partial closing last month raised questions about the direction of the Republican Party, exposing a split with business interests.