Buy side

With natural gas prices falling to record lows, public power utilities should benefit with stronger operating margins and more flexibility to adjust rates to offset other costs, according to Fitch Ratings.

The weekly average yield to maturity of The Bond Buyer Municipal Bond Index, which is based on 40 long-term bond prices, fell two basis points to 4.24% in the week ended Dec. 17 from 4.26% in the prior week.

Municipal experts awaiting the Federal Reserve’s decision on interest rates said a host of other stressors – from a lack of supply and credit concerns to unfunded pension liabilities and yield curve positioning – were high on their list of concerns heading into the new year.

In the week ended Dec. 10, the weekly average yield to maturity of the Bond Buyer Municipal Bond Index fell to 4.26% from 4.27% in the previous week. The BB40 Index is based on the price of 40 long-term bonds.

Municipal bond funds reported inflows for the 10th straight week, according to Lipper data released on Thursday.

Moody’s Investors Service gave stable outlooks to the state and local government sectors for 2016.

The weekly average yield to maturity of The Bond Buyer Municipal Bond Index, which is based on 40 long-term bond prices, fell three basis points to 4.27% in the week ended Dec. 3 from 4.30% in the prior week.

Municipal investors said Puerto Rico’s $355 million Government Development Bank note payment and claw-back debt management plan did little to resolve the island’s debt crisis.

A legal opinion defining San Diego Unified School District bonds as special revenues was credited with the district's $470 million pre-Thanksgiving general obligation bond sale being oversubscribed.

The weekly average yield to maturity of The Bond Buyer Municipal Bond Index, which is based on 40 long-term bond prices, fell five basis points to 4.30% in the week ended Nov. 24 from 4.35% in the prior week.

Rhode Island selected Invesco and Ascencus to manage its $7 billion CollegeBoundfund 529 program, replacing AllianceBernstein.

Municipal bond funds reported inflows for the seventh week in a row, according to Lipper data released on Thursday.

In the week ended Nov. 19, the weekly average yield to maturity of the Bond Buyer Municipal Bond Index fell to 4.35% from 4.38% in the previous week. The BB40 Index is based on the price of 40 long-term bonds.

Municipal market trading plummeted to $551 billion in the third quarter, the lowest level since at least 2005 when the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board began recording the statistics, according to the board.

Securities and Exchange Commission chair Mary Jo White on Wednesday declined to take a position on a bill that would increase hedge fund reporting in the wake of fund purchases of Puerto Rico’s debt, saying it has both pros and cons..

The 32-year-old national fixed-income shop First Empire Securities has begun underwriting new-issue municipal bonds it could offer to its institutional clients and opened a Chicago office.

California’s treasurer has launched an open data website that he says will make it easier to analyze $1.5 trillion in debt issued in the state since 1984.

Unrated Scranton, Pa., is taking steps to regain the good graces of the capital markets, said its mayor and business administrator.

Citigroup municipal strategist George Friedlander is delivering a presentation about how evolving technology is impacting the public finance industry at the Nov. 19 meeting of the Philadelphia Area Municipal Analyst Society (PhAMAS).

EAX Trading pulled the plug last week on a two-year effort to launch a municipal bond electronic trading platform aimed at the secondary market.