Buy side

The Associated Press and Municipal Bond Information Services, a national consortium of municipal interdealer brokers, announced Monday that it has created a new muni bond index.

In the week ended April 7, the weekly average yield to maturity of the Bond Buyer Municipal Bond Index fell five basis points to 3.98% from 4.03% in the previous week. The BB40 Index is based on the price of 40 long-term bonds.

Samson Capital Advisors and Wilkinson O’Grady Inc. will now officially operate under the name Fiera Capital Inc., as of April 4, and are the backbone of the Montreal-based money manager’s U.S. division.

Municipal managers are optimistic the price volatility and outflows associated with the April 15 tax deadline and spring redemption season will bring additional buying opportunities.

As the battlefield shifts to its 2017 budget from its 2016 budget, Pennsylvania’s sharp political divide has had heavy ramifications in the capital markets.

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 4.03% from 4.06% in the previous week.

States and cities should prioritize OPEB overhaul as much as they do pension overhaul, according to a Manhattan Institute report.

The National Development Council is highlighting what it describes as its proven “American model” for social infrastructure public-private partnerships, which uses tax-exempt bonds.

The impact a Chapter 9 bankruptcy would have on Chicago Public Schools and its investors is cloudy, market participants say.

As Congress ponders a solution to Puerto Rico’s financial crisis, some members of the buy side community say a comprehensive debt restructuring could create buying opportunities.

New Jersey labor unions are calling for the state’s pension fund to scale back its alternative investments to help cut down on fees paid to Wall Street firms.

Fitch Ratings’ recent guidance on school bond ratings won’t bring across-the-board higher ratings to California school bonds; the agency will require a legal opinion to consider such GO bonds to be special revenues in a bankruptcy case.

In the week ended March 23, the weekly average yield to maturity of the Bond Buyer Municipal Bond Index fell two basis points to 4.06% from 4.08% in the previous week. The BB40 Index is based on the price of 40 long-term bonds.

The best execution rule, which took effect this week, may solidify a market shift concentrating retail customers in a few large firms, while others seek just to keep their institutional business running smoothly, market participants said.

The risky underpinnings of Chicago’s efforts to solve its $20 billion pension mess are taking center stage this week.

A higher-than-expected 2015 operating loss at Illinois-based Presence Health is expected to trigger a technical default that would allow bondholders and banks to accelerate some debt repayments.

Following a consultant's scathing report, New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer's office has set out to streamline the Bureau of Asset Management.

The volatile stock market has hurt the asset performance of large pension plans, a signal that fiscal year 2016 returns may fall short of assumed targets for the second consecutive year, Moody's Investors Service said in a report.

The weekly average yield to maturity of The Bond Buyer Municipal Bond Index, which is based on 40 long-term bond prices, dropped two basis points to 4.08% from 4.10% in the previous week.

In a financial mess that spans the Atlantic, Louisiana affiliates of a German wood pellet processing firm filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, potentially leaving bond investors on the hook for a project poised to receive millions in state incentives.