Investments

This is the second wastewater deal since the city received an upgrade in April 2023.

The aim of the program was to create affordable moderate-income housing more quickly by acquiring existing apartment communities and converting the units to below-market-rate as existing tenants moved out.

The criteria should result in a nearly equal number of upgrades and downgrades in the next half year, according to the rating agency.

Some buying returned to the market Thursday from the buy-side and asset managers as dealers attempted to sell bonds, said Chris Brigati, senior vice president and director of strategic planning and fixed income research at SWBC.

A recent report calls for the elimination of the muni bond tax-exemption.

Two mega deals recently priced with make-whole calls for bonds due in 2034 and shorter where the market does not appear "to be penalizing issuers for including an optional make whole call feature in the short maturity tax-exempt bonds," said Pat Luby, head of Municipal Strategy at CreditSights, in a report.

S&P Global Ratings revised its outlook on the university's debt to negative a month after Moody's Ratings took similar action as the school faces financial difficulties and management changes.

Peter Shapiro, founder of Swap Financial Group and a former New Jersey legislator and county executive, died at his home in East Orange on March 29 after a long illness. He was 71.

"HB 727, if signed into law, should lower borrowing costs for Kentucky school districts and will serve as a critical tool in dealing with cost overruns and other inflationary pressures," said Compass Municipal Advisors.

"Most spots on the muni AAA HG curve are at or near year-to-date highs, and the muni HG curve showed significant underperformance across the curve in March, relative to the broader fixed income market, after sizable muni outperformance in February," said J.P. Morgan strategists.

Gyliane Morgan alleges the company retaliated against her in 2020 after she pointed to the firm's oversight failings — including not flagging defaults by borrowers — stemming from its role in a U.S. Department of Education program that helps finance campus projects, according to a wrongful termination lawsuit she filed March 27 in a New York federal court.

Congress has taken no significant action on bills that would stop the depletion of the United States Virgin Islands' government pension system for 21 months.

The snub could become more important next year when Tax Cuts and Jobs Act provisions expire and tax issues take center stage at Congress.

Municipal bonds on the rise

Among the items approved by the state Local Government Commission were $750 million of affordable housing bonds, the Turnpike Authority's Thursday sale of $184 million to refund BABs and Wake County's $321 million refunding bonds.

Representatives from the Securities and Exchange Commission gathered Tuesday to discuss some of their examination priorities and some of the trends they're seeing outside of exams.

"What we saw in 2023 was a large surge of issuers coming back into the single-family bond market," said Kurt van Kuller of Sit Investment Associates.

The bankruptcy of Iowa City's Mercy Hospital is closer to an end with the resolution of a dispute between unsecured creditors and the trustee and bondholder.

Before Tuesday's selloff, muni yields have been rising over the last several weeks due to "outsized" new-issue supply, said Anders S. Persson, Nuveen's chief investment officer for global fixed income, and Daniel J. Close, Nuveen's head of municipals.

With a dearth of taxable muni supply and Build America Bond refundings, the university should see strong demand for this week's $500 million taxable corporate CUSIP bonds.