Buy side

West Palm Beach, Fla.’s plan to borrow $60 million in taxable bonds to boost its already 83% funded police pension plan received divergent views from market experts.

Florida bond director Ben Watkins does not believe public-private partnerships that include private financing benefit the public sector, but P3 proponents disagree.

California is the least prepared to weather a recession of the four most populous states, according to a Moody’s Investors Service fiscal stress test.

Invesco’s Mark Paris is sticking with a strategy of maintaining diversity, liquidity, and credit selectivity in the essential service revenue, lower investment-grade, and nonrated sectors.

The weekly average yield to maturity of The Bond Buyer Municipal Bond Index, which is based on 40 long-term bond prices, was unchanged from 3.94% in the previous week.

While the key oil production states of Oklahoma, North Dakota and California have all been hit hard by the drop in crude oil prices, the impact varies at both the state and local government level, Moody’s Investors Service says.

Interactive Data’s continuous evaluated fixed-income pricing and liquidity Indicators service are now available to FactSet clients, the firms said Tuesday.

Fitch released revised criteria about how it rates tax-supported state and local government credits.

For the 28th week in a row, municipal bond funds reported inflows, according to Lipper data released Thursday.

The weekly average yield to maturity of The Bond Buyer Municipal Bond Index, which is based on 40 long-term bond prices, dropped four basis points to 3.94% from 3.98% in the previous week.

A spike in the SIFMA municipal swap index is making the short-end of the municipal bond yield curve unusually attractive.

New Jersey Senate President Steve Sweeney, D-Gloucester, floated an alternative proposal aimed at saving Atlantic City from insolvency that sets additional benchmarks for the distressed gambling hub before his previously-proposed state intervention would take effect.

UMB Bank N.A., the bond trustee for Texas Pellets, accelerated the outstanding debt on $186.5 million of bonds due to a default at the company owned by German Pellets, which filed for insolvency in February.

The Associated Press and Municipal Bond Information Services, a national consortium of municipal interdealer brokers, announced Monday that it has created a new muni bond index.

In the week ended April 7, the weekly average yield to maturity of the Bond Buyer Municipal Bond Index fell five basis points to 3.98% from 4.03% in the previous week. The BB40 Index is based on the price of 40 long-term bonds.

Samson Capital Advisors and Wilkinson O’Grady Inc. will now officially operate under the name Fiera Capital Inc., as of April 4, and are the backbone of the Montreal-based money manager’s U.S. division.

Municipal managers are optimistic the price volatility and outflows associated with the April 15 tax deadline and spring redemption season will bring additional buying opportunities.

As the battlefield shifts to its 2017 budget from its 2016 budget, Pennsylvania’s sharp political divide has had heavy ramifications in the capital markets.

The weekly average yield to maturity of The Bond Buyer Municipal Bond Index, which is based on 40 long-term bond prices, dropped three basis points to 4.03% from 4.06% in the previous week.

States and cities should prioritize OPEB overhaul as much as they do pension overhaul, according to a Manhattan Institute report.