Bond ratings

The approval last month by Texas voters of a constitutional amendment to create an endowment fund led S&P Global Ratings to revise the school's outlook to positive from stable.

The downgrade of Issaquah School District 411 to Aa1 affects $670 million in debt.

"The upgrade of Pennsylvania's IDR and related ratings reflects recent use of revenue surpluses to build its reserves to historical highs and Fitch's expectation that substantial reserves will be maintained in the near term," the rating agency said.

Fitch also affirmed the GOAA's AA-minus rating on $1.8 billion of outstanding senior lien airport facilities revenue bonds and A-plus on $867 million of subordinate lien airport facilities revenue bonds.

Year-to-date, MIA has seen passengers levels at 113% of pre-COVID 19 levels, boosted by domestic travel, according to a report from BofA Global Research.

The number of municipal bond delinquencies declined in the third quarter, despite some dramatic outliers that Moody's Investors Service characterized as idiosyncratic in a report released Monday.

The upgrade "reflects a material improvement in the MTA's fiscal outlook, which was largely driven by New York State increasing the maximum rate of the payroll mobility tax," Fitch said.

The state's strong reserves contributed to brighter rating outlooks from Moody's Investors Service and, earlier this year, S&P Global Ratings.

The rating agency raised the city's general obligation and sales tax securitization bond ratings a notch to BBB-plus and AA-plus respectively.

"I am excited to lead the team through what will be an exciting period of growth in public finance," Anjali Sharma said.

The upgrade was spurred by improving ridership as well as increased financial flexibility, said S&P credit analyst Joseph Pezzimenti.

Fitch Ratings replaced its negative watch with the negative outlook, citing the lack of clarity around contractor claims of cost overruns.

Final state approval of the debt was conditioned on the resolution of a petition to the Oklahoma Supreme Court to revisit its Aug. 1 validation of the debt.

The downgrade reflects the school district's weakened financial position, Moody's Investors Service said, adding that while the district's operating deficits have moderated significantly, they will persist over the next fiscal year.

The upgrade reflects progress and ongoing development at Hudson Yards that has led to increased payments in lieu of taxes, said S&P credit analyst Felix Winnekens.

S&P said the outlook revision reflects "our view that Pennsylvania has continued to make progress toward structural budgetary balance." Earlier this month, Moody's revised its outlook on the state to positive.

The nonprofit regional healthcare system reported six straight years of operational losses in its most recent financial report.

Moody's also affirmed the A3 rating on the MTA's $20.6 billion of transportation revenue bonds.

"Patrick has an excellent ability for not only understanding the complexities of the healthcare sector but connecting with our customers and telling the credit story in a way that provides meaningful and value-driven analysis to the market," said S&P Senior Director Stephen Infranco.

"Pennsylvania's positive outlook is based on the significant increase in budget reserves over the past three fiscal years to levels consistent with higher-rated peers," Moody's said.