Investments

A partially bond funded plan to build a $650 million hockey arena and entertainment district near downtown Detroit advanced Tuesday when the city council agreed to transfer 39 acres of public land to the project.

MINNESOTA

FLORIDA

Detroit, going to battle with its interest-rate swap counterparties, filed a lawsuit seeking to invalidate $1.4 billion of pension certificates that the swaps hedge, saying the borrowing was illegal from the start.

Detroit's bankruptcy plan circulated to creditors last week yields them greater recoveries to creditors than a first offer floated last year, but should still be seen as a rough draft that could change significantly.

Detroit has asked the bankruptcy court overseeing its Chapter 9 case to dissolve a committee representing unsecured creditors that the U.S. Trustee said is required under code.

CONNECTICUT

ALABAMA

The state of Illinois will thunder into the primary market this week with a $1 billion sale of general obligation bonds, hoping to feed supply-hungry investors after a sluggish start to the New Year.

Detroit late Friday filed a lawsuit challenging the legality of the structure tied to its 2005 sale of pension certificates and controversial swaps linked to the debt.

Negotiations intensified on several fronts as Detroit nears a self-imposed deadline to craft a detailed plan to exit Chapter 9 bankruptcy, with the fate of a debtor-in-possession loan in doubt.

The University of Illinois heads to market with a $180 million new money sale that offers investors high grade state-related paper from a credit that has mostly weathered the state's own ratings deterioration.

The growth of shipping fleets is outstripping demand, leading Moody's Investors Service analysts to slap a negative outlook on U.S. ports for the next 18 months.

Detroit has reportedly proposed paying its pensioners more — and in cash — than its general obligation bondholders, who would receive notes equivalent to roughly 20% percent of their claims in its bankruptcy exit plan.

ARKANSAS

ARIZONA

Municipal bond mutual funds reported inflows for a third consecutive week as they took in $338 million of net inflows for the week ended Jan. 29, Lipper FMI numbers showed.

Standard & Poor's and Moody's both revised their outlooks to negative on the University of Chicago noting poorer than expected fiscal performance, planned deficits, and future borrowing plans.

The thousands of airline flights cancelled this winter due to severe weather may affect some airports' revenues and cost budgets, Fitch Ratings said.

Tax-exempt money market funds lost $2.29 billion in the week ended Jan. 27, as total net assets dipped to $269.29 billion, according to The Money Fund Report, a service of iMoneyNet.com.