Buy side

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.

Gov. Tom Wolf signed a $31.5 billion budget after lawmakers filled a $1.3 billion gap through a patchwork of tax hikes and revenue assumptions.

Municipal officials should adopt a 6% rate of return as a baseline assumption for public pension investments, according to Alicia Munnell, director of the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College

The long-term principal and interest payment schedule for Chicago's general obligation debt swelled by about $1.7 billion last year, according to the city's comprehensive annual financial report.

Federal Chapter 9 policy is ill-defined and fluid, a bankruptcy expert said at a municipal finance conference at the Brookings Institution in Washington.

Demand for municipal bonds is forecast to be just as robust, if not stronger, in the third quarter.

The weekly average yield to maturity of The Bond Buyer Municipal Bond Index, which is based on 40 long-term bond prices, dropped three basis points to 3.72% from 3.75% in the previous week.

For the 40th straight week, municipal bond funds reported inflows, according to corrected Lipper data released on Friday. On Thursday, Lipper erroneously reported that weekly reporting funds had experienced an outflow.

Neither budget gridlock nor bankruptcy nor Puerto Rican default can stay the municipal investor from his appointed rounds.

In the week ended June 30, the weekly average yield to maturity of the Bond Buyer Municipal Bond Index fell five basis points to 3.75% from 3.80% in the previous week. The BB40 Index is based on the price of 40 long-term bonds.

State bonded debt was relatively flat in 2015, according to a report released this week by Moody’s Investors Service.