Investments

ARKANSAS

FLORIDA

Seattle's Sound Transit gets a $1.3 billion federal loan to revive voter-approved $4 billion light rail project stalled by revenue drop.

ALABAMA

Municipal volume is forecasted to rise in the holiday-shortened week, with three of the four biggest deals tied to oil.

The Government Finance Officers Association is levelling strong criticism at Moody's Investors Service for failing to provide its credit ratings to EMMA and urging the agency to do so.

Municipal market participants applauded President Obama’s proposal on Friday to create a new type of tax-exempt municipal bond that could be used to help finance public-private infrastructure projects, but one questioned whether it will pass muster with Congress.

Lazard Freres, which represented retirees in the Detroit bankruptcy, said it agreed to a 37% fee reduction as part of court-ordered mediation.

Short term municipal bonds, after posting negative returns in December, may still have value as an alternative to staying in cash while waiting for the Federal Reserve Board to raise interest rates.

ALABAMA

ALABAMA

Muni Bond Indexes Strengthen Again in Latest Week

The Senate Finance Committee took a step toward comprehensive tax reform on Thursday by launching five bipartisan working groups charged with issuing a report with recommendations by the end of May.

Weakening gasoline tax revenues will force Missouri to concentrate limited financial resources to road work on major arteries.

ARKANSAS

ALABAMA

Standard & Poor's maintains a negative outlook on the nonprofit higher education sector in 2015.

Chamber of Commerce chief Tom Donahue says oil price drop makes federal gas tax increase seem more attractive.

The University of Notre Dame's sale Tuesday of $400 million of taxable bonds may have won the lowest corporate yield for a 30-year maturity in history, according to the finance team.

Analysts attribute the spate of municipal bankruptcies since 2011 to the aftereffects of the 2008 credit crisis and Great Recession, as well as changing attitudes about debt.