Buy side

Eight years after the housing market collapse, the senior housing sector is growing with the help of near record-low interest rates that have prompted a rush to market.

Lawsuits by two Florida counties challenging the $1.75 billion private activity bond award for the All Aboard Florida passenger train project can proceed, after a federal judge ruled in the counties' favor.

Bondholders' poor recovery relative to pensioners in Detroit was typical of municipal bankruptcies, as protecting the workforce has outweighed debt repayment in courtrooms across the nation.

Chicago's junk-rated school district scheduled a public hearing next week on a request for $945 million of borrowing authorization.

An $800 million bond sale to finance New Jersey's American Dream retail development could provide fuel for critics of the municipal bond tax exemption, according to Municipal Market Analytics.

Moody's upgrades Pennsylvania's school district pre-default enhancement program to A2 from Baa1, citing a new state law.

Political gridlock has stymied attempts to overhaul pensions across the nation, most notably in the two lowest-rated states, New Jersey and Illinois.

Lately coupons of 4% – and in some cases even lower – are becoming more palatable to retail buyers because they decrease individual investors' dollar price when they purchase a new issue, strategists said.

The Securities and Exchange Commission's settlements with issuers under its continuing disclosure enforcement initiative will not impact specific rating determinations but will be an important component of analyzing an issuer's credit fundamentals, analysts from S&P Global Ratings said in a report on Monday.

Ziegler, the oldest healthcare focused investment bank in the country, is becoming one of the biggest players in the specialty as well.

The legal decisions governing public pension developments tell a complicated story.

U.S. municipal pensions, weakened by decades of underfunding, now face a demographic double-whammy:people are living longer and baby boomers are reaching retirement age.

In the week ended Aug. 11, the weekly average yield to maturity of the Bond Buyer Municipal Bond Index rose one basis point to 3.80% from 3.79% in the previous week. The BB40 Index is based on the price of 40 long-term bonds.

Municipal bonds issued for Tennessee-based Global Ministries Foundation housing projects were placed on S&P Global Ratings' CreditWatch and could face rating downgrades because of uncertainty related to a federal investigation.

Most of the top 10 debt-issuing states have only a limited ability to weather even a moderate recession, S&P Global Ratings said Tuesday.

Financial services technology provider Ipreo has launched a new municipal bond platform aimed at giving the company's customers a much more detailed look at how and to whom their bonds are selling.

At its recent investors’ conference, Chicago impressed analysts with a new plan to rescue the largest of the city’s four pension funds, but several attendees said the smooth presentations didn’t erase their worries about the city’s pensions and its budget.

The weekly average yield to maturity of The Bond Buyer Municipal Bond Index, which is based on 40 long-term bond prices, decreased one basis point to 3.79% from 3.80% in the previous week.

Chicago plans a tax on water and sewer services to save its largest pension fund from insolvency, Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced.

Mom and pop investors veered from recent buying patterns on new issues and bought longer-maturity bonds in order to get higher yields on the New York City GO deal – even if it meant accepting lower coupons, according to a New York City underwriter involved in the deal.