News and Information from Bond Buyer

Trading volume of Puerto Rico Sales Tax Financing Corp. rose Monday morning following last week's investor call by the commonwealth discussing COFINA's legal opinions.

Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi settled foreign currency transaction charges and securities lending issues with Bank of New York Mellon for $28 million.

New orders for manufactured goods rose 1.7% in September, after dropping 0.1% in August, the Commerce Department reported Monday.

New York City business activity grew at a quicker pace in October, as the current business conditions index rose to 59.3 from 53.6 in September, the Institute for Supply Management-New York's Report on Business index, released Monday, indicated.

Many governmental tax agencies in Quebec have successfully combatted business tax evaders through technology and now there is movement to bring this approach to U.S. municipalities.The problem Quebec governments decided to attack in recent years was retailers hiding a significant amount of cash transactions through skimming to evade both sales and incomes taxes. This process got more sophisticated in the mid-1990s when software commonly referred to as “zapper” was developed that erase sales transactions from electronic cash registers (ECR) or point of sale systems (POS) to make it appear as through fewer transaction have taken place. The sophisticated “zapper” software is costing municipalities hundreds of millions of dollars, according to Ted London, vice president of CGI’s Tax, Revenue and Collections Center of Excellence in Sacramento, Calif., which has been working with Quebec governments to get a handle on the issue.

Milwaukee, Cleveland, Philadelphia, Washington and even Leipzig, Germany, show that bankrupt Detroit isn’t hopeless -- although using hope and Detroit in the same sentence requires a leap of faith, Bloomber news reports. Detroit isn’t one big disaster. It’s a cluster of smaller disasters similar to those other cities have tackled and whose solutions may show a practical way forward for Michigan’s crumbling giant of auto manufacturing.

Puerto Rico officials project the commonwealth’s economy will shrink by 0.8 percent this fiscal year, a reversal from an earlier estimate calling for an expansion, Bloomberg news reports. The flagging growth is a blow as the island of 3.7 million struggles to turn around its finances. The Planning Board, which released the data today, previously said the economy would expand by 0.2 percent in the year that began July 1.

Dallas Federal Reserve Bank President Richard Fisher said the U.S. economy is "hog-tied" by "ineffective" and "counter-productive" fiscal policies that are holding back the effectiveness of the central bank's efforts to stimulate the economy.

Monday, November 4 Issuer St Description Amount

Monday, November 4 Issuer St Description Amount

Week Of November 4 Issuer St Description Amount

Week Of November 4 Issuer St Description Amount

ALASKA

Nov. 4, 2013 Northeast: Plain/Insured GO Yield Curve* State Ratings One-Year Five-Year 10-Year 30-Year Connecticut Aa3/AA/AA 0.2 1.21 2.74 4.36 Delaware Aaa/AAA/AAA 0.16 1.06 2.44 4.04 Maine Aa2/AA/AA 0.2 1.14 2.58 4.16 Maryland Aaa/AAA/AAA 0.18 1.06 2.44 4.04 Massachusetts Aa1/AA+/AA+ 0.2 1.12 2.64 4.28 New Hampshire Aa1/AA/AA+ 0.2 1.13 2.58 4.14 New Jersey Aa3/AA+/AA+ 0.24 1.2 2.72 4.36 New York Aa2/AA/AA 0.22 1.11 2.54 4.2 Pennsylvania Aa2/AA/AA 0.18 1.16 2.67 4.27 Rhode Island Aa2/AA/AA 0.26 1.34 2.89 4.54 Vermont Aaa/AA+/AAA 0.18 1.11 2.5 4.09 Dist. of Columbia Aa2/A+/AA+ 0.23 1.36 2.81 4.41 Puerto Rico Baa3/BBB+/BBB+ 6.43 8.06 8.84 7.74

11/1/2013 10/25/2013 State # Iss Amount ($000s) # Iss Amount ($000s) Chg in Amt ($000s) Connecticut 1 $8,580 4 $640,256 -$631,676 Delaware 0 0 0 0 0 Maine 3 63,909 2 7,800 56,109 Maryland 4 609,095 1 250,000 359,095 Massachusetts 5 738,920 8 146,457 592,463 New Hampshire 0 0 0 0 0 New Jersey 6 491,703 11 64,734 426,969 New York 19 218,735 19 881,722 -662,987 Pennsylvania 5 279,015 9 345,155 -66,140 Rhode Island 1 85,520 1 54,790 30,730 Vermont 3 85,315 0 0 85,315 District of Columbia 0 0 0 0 0 Puerto Rico 0 0 0 0 0

Day Indicator Last Report Forecast Monday Factory Orders July: -2.4% Sept.: +1.2% Tuesday ISM Non-Manufacturing Sept.: 54.4 Oct.: 54.0 Wednesday Productivity Q2: +2.3% Q3: +1.2% Wednesday Unit Labor Costs Q2: unch Q3: +0.9% Thursday GDP Q2: +2.5% Q3: +2.1% Thursday Initial Jobless Claims Oct. 26: 340,000 Nov. 2: n/a Thursday Continuing Claims Oct. 19: 2.881M Oct. 26: n/a Thursday Consumer Credit Aug.: +$13.6B Sept.: +11.0B Friday Nonfarm Payrolls Sept.: +148,000 Oct.: +128,000 Friday Private Payrolls Sept.: +126,000 Oct.: +149,000 Friday Manufacturing Payrolls Sept.: +2,000 Oct.: +3,000 Friday Unemployment Rate Sept.: 7.2% Oct.: 7.3% Friday Avg Hourly Earnings Sept.: +0.1% Oct.: +0.2% Friday Work Week Sept.: 34.5 Oct.: 34.5 Friday Personal Income Aug.: +0.4% Oct.: +0.3% Friday Consumption (PCE) Aug.: +0.3% Oct.: +0.2% Friday Core PCE Aug.: +0.2% Oct.: +0.2% Friday Michigan Sentiment Oct.: 73.2 Nov.: n/a Friday Current Conditions Oct.: 89.9 Nov.: n/a Friday Expectations Oct.: 62.5 Nov.: n/a

Government

Deals from Hawaii and the New Jersey Economic Development Authority are expected to lead a brisk primary market as issuers are forecast to bring almost $5.8 billion this week. The figure doesn’t include a $1.7 billion financing from bankrupt Jefferson County, Ala., that may price as early as this week.

The municipal bond market firmed in nearly every session this week, pushing the 10-year Municipal Market Data yield to its lowest in over four months, on light supply and slowing outflows from municipal bond funds.