Public finance

Market Intelligence analyst Jeff Lipton distills what he heard onstage and in the hallways at The Bond Buyer's 2026 National Outlook, from policy uncertainty and the muni tax exemption to AI's growing role and credit risk hotspots.

Moody's cited the district's narrowing financial position as its available fund balance sank to 4.8% of revenue in fiscal 2025.

Glen Carbon, Illinois, has applied to host the state's first NOVA district, a bigger version of a STAR bond district, to support a big mixed-use development.

Rapidly rising property values have led many Republican legislators to back measures that would substantially reduce local government property taxes.

With USTs stable and the "snoozer" of economic data Wednesday morning, the muni market has settled, with muni yields little, said Jeff MacDonald, EVP and head of fixed income strategies at Fiduciary Trust International.

As the next surface transportation reauthorization bill takes form in Congress, the transit sector is making a case for its slice of the pie and expanding the use of private activity bonds.

The federal government's attempt to end congestion pricing has been thwarted. Other challenges to the program remain.

Minnesota lawmakers hope to pass a major bonding bill this year as they face $5 billion of requests from local governments and state agencies.

"Once the damage is done, it takes a little longer for it to come back," said Elaine Brennan, executive director of the public finance department at Roosevelt and Cross, of the muni market.

The California High-Speed Rail Authority's draft business plan was met with a mixture of cautious optimism and sharp criticism.

Chicago returns to market March 10 with $800.29 million of general obligation bonds, following bond rating downgrades from Fitch Ratings and KBRA.

Monday saw a more muted tone, but Tuesday munis are playing a little bit of a catch-up to the backup in rates, said Chris Brigati, managing director and CIO at SWBC.

The drought-stricken Texas city welcomed the president's support for "a serious money ask" as it revisits a costly seawater desalination project.

The agency cited strong student demand as a factor of its uprade to the FIU's issuer default rating.

A recent report from The Bond Buyer found that data quality and accuracy was the top concern among AI skeptics in the industry.

Major Texas cities are prepping big bond issues to finance convention center expansions, with Houston hitting the market this week with $1.425 billion of debt.

First thing this morning, there wasn't much action as market participants waited to see what would happen, but as the day went on, munis got progressively weaker, said Kyle Gerberding, director of trading, a portfolio manager and partner at Asset Preservation Advisors.

Market Intelligence analyst Jeff Lipton assesses the early impacts of Operation Epic Fury on rates, spreads, shifting inflation expectations, and flows, arguing that elevated tax-exempt income, disciplined sector allocation and a quality bias can help muni investors navigate headline-driven volatility.

Issuance was $40.336 billion in 632 issues, down only 1.1% year-over-year from $40.772 billion across 731 transactions.

The Vermont Bond Bank debuts a new indenture when it sells $56 million of bonds this week. It's following a nationwide trend in bond bank structures.