Capital markets

It made cuts in its banking, sales, and trading staff Wednesday, sources told The Bond Buyer.

Stephens Inc. plans to expand its Texas offices after hiring Curt Shelmire in Dallas and Kevin Jackson in Austin.

Ball State University would control the financially distressed Muncie school district through an appointed seven-member board.

Benefit changes for the city’s public safety pensions will remain, said Moody's Investors Service.

Although market conditions are not pristine, with rising yields and little primary action, market participants expressed reason to believe the first week of February will be a positive one.

The Vermont Municipal Bond Bank is offering retail investors bonds that can be purchased in denominations as low as $1,000.

HJ Sims has named Melissa Messina as a senior vice president of investment banking in the Rockville, Md.

Brian Brewer will be the firm's public finance director following the retirement of longtime manager Keith Kolb.

There was no consensus on prospects for a federal infrastructure plan at Wednesday's Bond Buyer event.

Municipal bond volume evaporated in January, as the market felt the aftereffect of federal tax legislation that pulled issuance forward into 2017.

It will take some time to see how both tax reform and infrastructure makes an impression on the muni market, said panelists at The Bond Buyer's National Outlook 2018 Conference.

Moody's revised its outlook on Connecticut's capital to developing from negative, pending the city's application for a state workout program.

Against a backdrop of chronic state budget strife, Jefferies will price the Commonwealth Financing Authority’s tobacco master settlement bonds this week.

Another week of modest muni volume is expected, as issuers offer more chunks of taxable bonds.

The Ohio Turnpike and Transportation Commission is selling $72 million of senior-lien bonds and $415 million of junior-lien bonds.

The "transformative" effect of landing the second Amazon headquarters is likely to help the economy of the winning government, according to S&P.

The increasing saturation of the Northeast market with casinos bodes poorly for states expecting tax windfalls, analysts said.

Oil appears to be making a steady comeback, lifting prospects for the key producing states, according to Fitch Ratings.

Chicago’s Sales Tax Securitization Corp. bonds cleared the market after a one-week delay.

The authority realized $534 million in present-value savings from those transactions in 2017, said finance director Patrick McCoy.