Public finance

ILLINOIS

CALIFORNIA

The Bond Buyer's weekly yield indexes increased the week ended August 15 amid gains in the Treasury market.

As the municipal market continues its struggles at the long end of the yield curve, investor demand remains tepid, as muni bond mutual funds that report flows weekly recorded outflows of $1.21 billion.

Academy Securities, an investment bank founded by military veterans to employ veterans in finance, brought in an inaugural class of summer interns who are both college students and veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Congress should establish a national infrastructure bank and offset the appropriation for it with revenue from a one-time repatriation tax holiday, the Brookings Institution urged in a report released Thursday.

Tax-exempt money market funds had $1.02 billion in outflows, cutting total net assets to $266.94 billion for the week ended Aug. 12, as losses resumed after the biggest inflow in more than a year the previous week.

Sales of municipal bonds in the Far West region grew by almost 11% during the first half of 2013 compared to a year earlier as low rates continued to drive volume.

The credit ratings of 15 California transit agencies are on review for downgrade by Moody's Investors Service because the Obama administration is challenging changes to state pension law.

ARKANSAS

ARKANSAS

The Federal Transit Administration on Wednesday published a policy guidance document about the evaluation criteria and rating process for transit projects seeking funding under the New Starts and Small Starts grant programs.

With the recent increase in interest rates, the de minimis risk grows for municipal bond investors.

John Donaldson, director of fixed income at Haverford Trust, favors high-quality bonds with strong claims-paying ability and widespread credit diversification in the intermediate slope of the curve.

ALABAMA

ARKANSAS

Fitch Ratings stripped Wayne County, Michigan's general obligation ratings of their investment grade over the county's rapidly deteriorating fiscal condition, in a five-notch superdowngrade.

The Justice Department and attorneys general from six states and the District of Columbia moved to block bankrupt American Airlines' proposed merger with US Airways under federal antitrust laws.

The Michigan Finance Authority will sell $92 million of state aid revenue notes for the Detroit Public School District next week in the first market offering to carry the Detroit name since the city's bankruptcy filing.

MINNESOTA