Public finance

Oppenheimer is set to return to court on Wednesday afternoon to defend a motion to add to the list of defendants in its complaint against the Rhode Island Tobacco Settlement Financing Corporation.

Detroit has reached a deal to spin its troubled Water and Sewerage Department to a new regional authority, that allows up to $800 million of new money bonds for capital improvements to assets located in the city limits.

Pension obligations are no different than borrowing obligations, public finance expert Richard Ravitch told a group of investors in New York.

Detroit entered the second week of the confirmation trial for its bankruptcy exit plan Monday, calling witnesses who testified to the city's desperate need for the $1.5 billion of capital investments featured in the plan.

KANSAS

IOWA

Oppenheimer squared off against the Rhode Island Tobacco Settlement Financing Corp. at a state court hearing Monday as the fund company sought to block a $593 million tobacco bond refunding sale originally slated for early August.

University of Pennsylvania economist Kevin Gillen is the keynote speaker at the Sept. 26 meeting of the Philadelphia Area Municipal Analyst Society.

CALIFORNIA

An uptick in negotiated offerings will do little to alleviate the drought in the long-term primary arena this week, as just over $3 billion is expected to arrive. Most attention will focus on a single $2.8 billion financing in the short-term market.

New federal banking regulations will further constrain already struggling infrastructure finance, transportation advocates warned.

Some municipal fund managers are finding it's possible to use the secondary market to help determine fair bond pricing after a drop in new issuance has limited their reliance on the primary market as a benchmark.

Detroit's first witness in its bankruptcy trial, CFO John Hill, testified that the city's confirmation plan would mean more money for the struggling city but that meeting some of the revenue targets could be difficult.

CONNECTICUT

ALASKA

Inflows or all municipal all municipal bond funds moderately declined during the municipal bond sell-off the week ending September 3rd.

The Bond Buyer's weekly yield indexes were mixed for the week ending Sept 4.

Texas voters will decide in November on a constitutional amendment that could boost state highway spending by $1.7 billion a year.

The three counties around Detroit objected to the city's bankruptcy exit plan, arguing that the proposed treatment of the massive Detroit Water and Sewerage Department would spell catastrophe for the aging system.

Under questioning from the federal judge overseeing Detroit's bankruptcy, bond insurer Syncora Guarantee Inc. said it would settle a year-long battle with the city for 75 cents on the dollar.