Economy

Moody's Investors Service last week boosted its outlook to stable from negative on the Cleveland Clinic Health System in part because the prestigious system has scaled back some of its ambitious capital program.

Atlanta may bring its next airport bond issue to market sooner than anticipated because of widespread investor interest in last week's successful sale of $588 million for Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, officials said.

Fitch Ratings on Wednesday downgraded to junk $792 million of bonds issued in 1997 by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to build a terminal at John F. Kennedy International Airport.

Lawmakers will go back to the drawing board for a multi-year transportation bill when Republicans take over leadership of the House in January, but market participants think such a bill may have a chance of squeezing through a divided Congress next year.

SAN FRANCISCO — The University of California will sell $760 million of mostly taxable Build America Bonds next week to help finance upgrades to three medical centers.

The Minneapolis City Council last week approved up to $16.5 million of recovery zone facility bonds toward the American Academy of Neurology’s plans to build a new global headquarters, according to a news release from the city’s Community Planning and Economic Development Department.

The Cook County Health and Hospital System plans to issue up to $200 million of debt over the next five years to finance a new capital plan.

DALLAS — Southwest Airlines, which after its launch in 1971 built its entire business plan around Love Field, will issue $310 million of revenue bonds to expand operations at the historic Dallas airport.

ALAMEDA, Calif. — Two years after voters north of San Francisco approved a sales tax to finance a new commuter rail line, the start of construction is in sight and the Sonoma Marin Area Rail Transit District prepares for its first bond issue.

The transportation market seems to be stabilizing, Fitch Ratings analysts said at a conference in New York City last week, before the agency publishes its 2011 outlooks for the sector.

BRADENTON, Fla. — Atlanta this week will bring to market nearly $600 million of bonds for Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, the facility’s first long-term fixed-rate financing in six years.

New Hampshire Thursday will enter the market with its ­first-ever Garvee sale, a $77.1 million deal that includes $60 ­million of taxable recovery zone economic development bonds.

CHICAGO — The Ohio Turnpike Commission will refund $130.3 million of bonds Monday to achieve savings of nearly $10 million over the life of the debt.

The Internal Revenue Service is auditing the New Jersey Turnpike Authority’s $1.37 billion of Series 2009F Build America Bonds in a routine examination.

New Jersey Gov. Chris ­Christie Wednesday ended an $8.7 billion mass-transit tunnel project and rejected U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood’s financing suggestions that would have addressed potential cost overruns on the nation’s largest public transportation project.

New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority approved bridge and tunnel toll hikes that will yield an additional 7.5% of revenue at its monthly board meeting Wednesday.

CHICAGO — The board of the Detroit Medical Center voted to extend the deadline for its $1.5 billion acquisition by a for-profit Tennessee health care company to Dec. 31, saying the parties were still waiting for state regulatory approvals.

The Dormitory Authority of the State of New York gave both preliminary and final approvals Wednesday to up to $1.4 billion of bonds for education, higher education, and health care projects at a board meeting in Albany.

BRADENTON, Fla. — Like other cities ­dealing with congestion, Atlanta has been searching for ways to move people around downtown without building new roads or ­adding more vehicles.

DALLAS — A transportation coalition is seeking legislative sponsors for Louisiana state constitutional amendments that would raise the gasoline tax and establish a $3 billion bond program for highway efforts.