Buy side

The weekly average yield to maturity of The Bond Buyer Municipal Bond Index, which is based on 40 long-term bond prices, was four basis points lower to 4.38% for the week ended Oct. 1 from 4.42% in the previous week

Chicago's steep borrowing costs should come down if the City Council adopts Mayor Rahm Emanuel's proposed 2016 budget and property tax hikes, the city's chief financial officer, Carole Brown, told council members.

Interactive Data announced on Tuesday the launch of its Liquidity Indicators Service for municipal and corporate bonds. The service will let subscribers access a series of security- and portfolio-level “Liquidity Indicators,” which are aimed at helping companies manage liquidity risk in any type of economic cycle, the company said.

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel brought the case for a budget proposal that hikes property taxes to fund police and firefighter pensions before the municipal bond market on Monday. Speaking in Manhattan to the Municipal Forum of New York, Emanuel said that the only alternative to his budget is to make massive cuts in the city’s workforce and services.

A water banking agreement between Southern Nevada Water Authority and the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California is a credit positive, Moody’s Investors Service said.

Rep. Nydia Velázquez wants to extend protections under the Investment Company Act of 1940 to Puerto Rico, saying their absence caused Puerto Ricans to suffer losses when they invested in mutual funds heavily stocked with the financially struggling commonwealth’s bonds.

Municipal bond funds reported inflows for the first time in four weeks, according to Lipper data released on Thursday. Weekly reporting funds experienced $231.252 million of inflows in the week ended Sept. 23, after outflows of $411.069 million in the previous week, Lipper reported.

In the week ended Sept. 24, the weekly average yield to maturity of the Bond Buyer Municipal Bond Index was down five basis points to 4.42% from 4.47% in the previous week. The BB40 Index is based on the price of 40 long-term bonds.

Faltering projects designed to boost the economy can expose municipalities to the perils of backing such ventures, Moody's Investors Service said in a commentary.

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and his finance team can expect tough questions from the muni buyside Friday at the city’s closed-door annual investor conference.

Public Private Partnerships will become increasingly common beyond the transportation sector in the United States, Moody’s Investors Service said.

Kroll Bond Rating Agency released a description of its methodology for rating not-for-profit higher education, a sector that's shown signs of stabilizing.

Breckinridge Capital Advisors has adopted Bitvore Corp.’s Obligor Intelligence platform to provide analytics and insight on a growing portfolio of 40,000 different CUSIPs from over 4,000 issuers.

In the wake of Detroit’s chapter 9 filing, distressed municipalities need to consider a more long-term view, municipal analysts said Monday at The Bond Buyer’s Mid-Atlantic Municipal Market Conference.

Municipal bond volume is forecast to hold steady in the coming week after the Federal Open Market Committee decided to keep the benchmark interest rate near zero.

Based on GASB 25 data, 2014 was the best year for state pensions since the recession, Loop Capital Markets said in its public pension funding review.

Municipal bond funds saw outflows for the fourth straight week, according to Lipper data released on Thursday. Weekly reporting funds experienced $411.069 million of outflows in the week ended Sept. 16, after seeing outflows of $95.986 million in the previous week, Lipper reported.

The weekly average yield to maturity of The Bond Buyer Municipal Bond Index, which is based on 40 long-term bond prices, was three basis points higher to 4.47% for the week ended Sept. 17 from 4.44% in the previous week.

State tax revenues increased 5.8% in the first quarter of 2015 from revenues in the first quarter of 2014, according to the Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government.

The municipal market has priced in a possible rate increase this week, even though some analysts are now suggesting the Fed may wait longer before making its first move since 2008.