Public finance

David Skeel said he was proud about cutting Puerto Rico's debt and stabilizing the island's finances.

June supply appears to be finishing above $45 billion, the third highest monthly total in the last 10 years, said Kim Olsan, vice president of municipal bond trading at FHN Financial.

In 2024, variable rate (short put) issuance is up 6.4% increase year-over-year, LSEG data shows. Few expect issuance to return pre-financial crisis levels.

Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen called a special legislative session for July 25 so lawmakers can consider his plan for property tax reform after his April attempt fell short.

Two initiatives were dropped from the California ballot as Gov. Gavin Newsom worked to secure a legislative fix.

GFOA Today 2024, day 1

GFOA Today 2024, day 2

Washington state won the most amount of grants and the most in funding for the second year in a row.

Convention centers in Chicago, Cincinnati and St. Louis are being upgraded, although cost increases after the pandemic added challenges to some financings.

Demand for the increased supply has been "solid" if nearly largely reliant on income-oriented small lot buyers, noted Municipal Market Analytics, Inc. Partner Matt Fabian. Through last week, buyers continued to be separately managed account/retail in size.

Finance officials for the city decided to be the first municipal issuer to use the distributed ledger technology for a $10 million deal, banking on cost savings, better liquidity and more access for retail investors to their bonds. Mayor Tom Koch, CFO Eric Mason and Strategic Asset Manager Rick Coscia say it should be the first of many deals for the industry.

Total volume currently stands at $224.13 billion, up 38.5% from $161.848 billion at this time last year. As the end of the first half approaches, several firms are revisiting their supply projections for the year, given the growth so far this year.

A pair of infrastructure experts are proposing a $25 billion federal appropriation to create state bond banks across the country.

With the "pretty good run" month-to-date, it would not be unexpected to see "the market take a breather, and with a large calendar this coming week, it may again move sideways," said AllianceBernstein strategists in a weekly report.

A 2023 U.S. Appeals Court ruling derailed federal approvals for the Uinta Basin Railway, which plans to seek up to $2 billion in private-activity bonds.

Broker-dealer Millennium will provide clients with real-time pricing and trade execution capabilities by connecting directly to the Investortools Dealer Network, or IDN.

The low-investment-grade offering for a high-profile public private partnership stood out in a crowded airport sector.

"It is hard to be overly excited about current valuations of tax-exempts relative to Treasuries; however, at tax-adjusted yields (using individual tax brackets), munis look quite attractive compared with other asset classes," noted Barclays PLC.

S&P Global Ratings dropped Houghton University to BB-plus from BBB-minus, citing a track record of deficits plus a large operating shortfall.

Municipal bond mutual funds saw small inflows as investors added $16.4 million to the funds after $154.4 million of inflows the week prior, according to LSEG Lipper.