Buy side

Jacksonville, Florida, is asking voters for a half-cent sales tax to help pay down nearly $3 billion in pension liabilities, but a recent lawsuit threatens to derail the referendum.

The high-yield sector probably is headed for a slowdown in the second half of the year, after outperforming for the first six months, municipal experts said.

Chicago is selling a positive budget message at its annual investor conference Wednesday, but the theme is obscured by the city’s pension albatross.

The Associated Press Municipal Bond Index, AP’s first branded financial markets index to be introduced since Franklin D. Roosevelt’s presidency, launched Monday in preparation for a wider rollout later this year.

Atlantic City has tapped financial advisors PFM Group and NW Financial to assist with its recovery plan needed to avoid state intervention.

Moody's Investors Service placed $18 billion of lease-backed, moral obligation and comparable debt on review.

The small Florida city of Opa-locka is on the verge of bankruptcy, according to the head of a state-appointed oversight board.

Poised for Growth, San Diego and Chicago-based fund manager Gurtin Fixed Income Management promoted Michael Johnson to co-CEO.

Minnesota heads into the market Tuesday with its annual summer sale, bolstered by the restoration of one of its triple-A ratings.

In the week ended July 28, the weekly average yield to maturity of the Bond Buyer Municipal Bond Index rose one basis points to 3.80% from 3.79% in the previous week. The BB40 Index is based on the price of 40 long-term bonds.

Boosted by new grant funding, the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy, led by new executive director Michael Belsky, wants to raise its voice on municipal finance research and education.

Detroit, already facing headwinds with its first post-bankruptcy general obligation/distributable state aid backed sale, could suffer some spill due to the state’s disruption of a similar security on some of Detroit Public Schools' bonds, one municipal market participant suggested.

Strong municipal performance, supply scarcity, and seasonal factors will draw retail investors to New York City's $860 million general obligation sale.

Lackluster investment returns reported by some of the nation's largest public pension funds signal intensifying fiscal pressure on U.S. state and local governments, Moody's Investment Service said Tuesday.

Chicago isn’t on the “brink” of a financial collapse that could drive a default or bankruptcy but its pension fixes to date fall far short of stabilizing the city’s fiscal foundation, an analyst said.

The weekly average yield to maturity of The Bond Buyer Municipal Bond Index, which is based on 40 long-term bond prices, gained five basis points to 3.79% from 3.74% in the previous week.

Municipal investors should be prepared for the eventual departure of non-traditional and international buyers from the sector, Regions Investment Management said in a new report.

Mississippi absorbed a downgrade from Fitch Ratings, which cited weaker-than-expected .performance and criteria changes in lowering its issuer default and general obligation ratings one notch to AA.

Junk-rated Chicago Public Schools is using risky assumptions in its efforts to erase a $1 billion deficit, S&P Global Ratings said as it extended its CreditWatch on the district.

In the week ended July 14, the weekly average yield to maturity of the Bond Buyer Municipal Bond Index rose two basis points to 3.74% from 3.72% in the previous week. The BB40 Index is based on the price of 40 long-term bonds.