Public finance

Telluride town and its schools both issued debt to fund 'workforce housing' for teachers and public servants who can't afford multi-million dollar real estate.

A state-by-state review of 2023 issuance in the Southeast.

Natural gas prepayment deals helped drive the utilities sector to top the Southeast in an overall down year for municipal bond sales across the region.

U.S. District Judge Laura Taylor Swain said she would consider the motion during a scheduled May 22 bankruptcy hearing.

Children were the organizing principle of Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker's sixth State of the State and budget address Wednesday, which called for a balanced budget.

Policymakers appear to be concerned about the possibility of cutting interest rates too soon, according to minutes of the Federal Open Market Committee's Jan. 30-31 meeting, released Wednesday.

The funds will go through State Drinking Water and Clean Water Revolving Funds, which states often use together with municipal bonds to finance projects.

Larger deals, fewer issues: those were the overarching municipal bond sale trends, along with a surge in tax-exempt deals, across the Midwest in 2023.

A state-by-state review of 2023 issuance in the Midwest.

Pensions funds are increasingly investing in riskier asset classes, with more than half their investments in 2022 in these, according to some estimates.

"With the new economic data signaling a delay of the Fed starting rate cuts to further into the year, we should continue to see yields rise until we get near to the Fed's target of a 2% 'neutral' rate for inflation," said Jason Wong, vice president of municipals at AmeriVet Securities.

The Federal Railroad Administration plans to make formal recommendations to Congress this spring.

A private university in Milwaukee will borrow $163.7 million through tax-exempt bonds to build new emergency response facilities for the state and county.

Robert Poole, a leading expert in the U.S. public-private partnership transportation sector, joins infrastructure reporter Caitlin Devitt to talk about upcoming deals including toll lanes and bridges in the Southeast and high speed rail in the West as well as states that are advancing P3s and action on the federal front. (37 minutes)

A state-by-state review of 2023 issuance in the Southwest.

The board has initiated a review of the annual rate card process.

Long-term municipal bond sales dropped for the second straight year, but a late year surge of issuance nearly brought volume level with the prior year and raised hopes for a rebound in 2024.

All municipal bond insurers wrapped $35.381 billion in 2023, a 5.8% increase from the $33.428 billion insured in 2022, according to LSEG data.

Bond volume fell slightly, as volatility, higher interest rates, falling pandemic aid and slower economic growth kept issuers on the sidelines.

Issuance has fluctuated throughout the years since the financial crisis, following interest rate changes — rising when rates rise and falling when rates fall — but the totals have come in well below $15 billion every year since 2012, save for 2017 when $15.234 billion was sold.