Public finance

A letter co-sgned by Bond Dealers of America and the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association urges the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board to institute its 2024 rate card, for fear that reverting back to 2023 levels would be disruptive for dealers.

Inflation and mandate pressures are key factors that moved the outlook lower.

Despite fixed-income seeing losses this month, Jeff Lipton, managing director of credit research at Oppenheimer, believes "a performance sea change is nearing."

Mayor John Whitmire expressed confidence in Melissa Dubowski's ability to guide the city through its financial challenges.

The troubled P3 project has been behind schedule and over budget.

Wisconsin and Minnesota have jointly received a $1.05 billion grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation to replace the aging Blatnik Bridge.

The trend toward paying down debt, as opposed to tender offers or refundings, to save money cuts across Red state/Blue state lines. New Jersey retired $500 million of debt to produce $160 million of savings.

The consolidation upheld by the state Supreme Court promises efficiencies, but the hundreds of local funds involved still face structural challenges.

After the year-end rally, "2024 bond investors have been reluctant buyers, prices creeping lower perhaps until the data and the Fed's next steps are more clear," said Matt Fabian, partner at Municipal Market Analytics.

While this appeal was rejected, the panel suggested bondholders could immediately file a new motion for relief.

SIFMA's Leslie Norwood joins Bond Buyer Executive Editor Kyle Glazier for a discussion about the regulatory and legislative outlook for broker-dealers. (17 minutes)

The new governor and concessionaire on the $2.1 billion P3 have reached a revised deal that will lower tolls and provide a 15% equity contribution to the local area.

SEC Muni Office Chief Dave Sanchez gave issuer officials some updates on implementation of the transparency law.

Brightline, a high-profile name in the speculative muni market, is set to come to market next week to remarket $675 million of 2020 bonds.

Bond parties say several parts of the original trust agreement support their lien on the authority's revenues.

This week's heavy new-issue calendar of tax-exempt supply "could lead to a modest cheapening of ratios," said Vikram Rai, head of municipal markets strategy at Wells Fargo.

Moody's Investors Service bumped Chicago's outlook to positive from stable, while affirming the city's Baa3 issuer and general obligation bond ratings.

A California Department of Water Resources spokeswoman said the department is considering an appeal of the Superior Court judge's decision.

The rulemaking board is prepping for a machine-readable future.

The top bond counsel in 2023 handled a combined $361.721 billion across 7,164 bond issues versus $359.189 billion in 7,882 transactions in 2022.