Buy side

Pennsylvania's prolonged budget impasse is a credit negative for school districts and community colleges that rely on state-aid distributions, said Moody's.

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

In the week ended Nov. 12, the weekly average yield to maturity of the Bond Buyer Municipal Bond Index rose to 4.38% from 4.35% from the previous week. The BB40 Index is based on the price of 40 long-term bonds.

Rating changes are likely for hundreds of credits as Moody's Investors Service prepares a methodology revision for moral obligations, lease-revenue bonds and other appropriation-backed credits.

The municipal high yield sector, slumping since before the second quarter, started to rally in October.

The New Jersey Legislature has scheduled a "fact-finding" hearing to explore legalizing marijuana as a way to reform drug laws while also raising new revenue.

The SEC recently approved a new set of rules that would likely alter the behavior of one of the municipal bond market's largest, and one of the most influential, investor segments of the industry — mutual funds. Surprisingly, the industry appears not to be considering its full implications outside of a few closed circles.

Fitch Ratings deemed the reorganization of Clark County School District, Nevada's largest school and the nation's fifth biggest, to be a mid-term credit risk in a report describing the experience of a Utah school district that underwent a break-up in 2010.

Allen Park, Mich. received a positive review from Standard & Poor's for its advancing efforts to shed some its troublesome $26.3 million of debt issued for a failed film studio, with an upgrade for the still speculative-grade credit.

Moody's Investors Service had more upgrades than downgrades in the third quarter of 2015, and the upgrades also affected a larger dollar amount of debt than its downgrades.

Municipal bond funds reported inflows for the fifth week in a row, according to Lipper data released on Thursday. Weekly reporting funds experienced $62.996 million of inflows in the week ended Nov. 4, after inflows of $349.038 million in the previous week.

The weekly average yield to maturity of The Bond Buyer Municipal Bond Index, which is based on 40 long-term bond prices, rose one basis point to 4.35% in the week ended Nov. 5, from 4.34% in the prior week.

Kroll Bond Rating Agency entered a new partnership with current shareholder and investor Wharf Street LLC to own a majority stake in the firm and pump new capital into the rating agency for future growth and expansion.

Citing a state budget impasse in its fifth month, Moody's downgraded Pennsylvania's pre-default intercept programs for school districts to A3 from A2.

Like Depression-era Arkansas, Puerto Rico took on too much debt, leading to a crisis when the worldwide economy shrank. But there are some key differences.

Chicago’s passage of a record tax hike to help stabilize its public safety pension funds has fueled further tightening of the city’s general obligation trading levels in recent days, Municipal Market Analytics says.

Long before Puerto Rico's debt crisis, Arkansas' defaults were followed by a decade of refundings, a debt exchange, and ultimately Federal help to resolve its problems.

A three part series examining Arkansas' road to default, the state's efforts to resolve the crisis, and the similarities and differences with Puerto Rico today.

Fitch Ratings and Kroll Bond Rating Agency see the Chicago City Council’s passage of a record property tax as a good step toward stabilizing the city’s finances, though they say plenty of concerns remain.

A rally in the high-yield tobacco bond sector is being buoyed by a slowdown in cigarette consumption declines, a settlement in New York with the big tobacco companies, and demand for risk assets.