Public finance

The city takes competitive bids Wednesday on $124 million of GOs.

Ramirez & Co. and Cabrera Capital Markets, LLC — two Hispanic MWBE firms — are joint bookrunners for the deal, part of Dallas County's sustained push to "maximize professional diversity on the issuance," officials said.

William Glasgall of the Volcker Alliance dives deep into factors affecting state and local budgets. He looks at what the Inflation Reduction Act means, how states are using stimulus money and economic effects of work from home. Caitlin Devitt hosts. (31 minutes)

The mediation team cites progress, but needs more time to reach an agreement.

"Demand for low-duration tax-exempts has been so strong that short maturity benchmark yields are now lower than the after-tax yields for comparably rated benchmark taxable muni and corporate bonds," said CreditSights strategists Pat Luby and John Ceffalio.

Inflation and material shortages are accelerating the P3 trend of bringing in a private team before price is finalized, which could expose investors to cost-escalation risk.

Funding transit infrastructure is one of the county's key initiatives and also reinforces its policy to reduce carbon emissions, increase mobility equity and promote transit-oriented development, says Fitch's Michael Rinaldi.

The two main insurers, Assured Guaranty Municipal Corp. and Build America Mutual, accounted for $17.132 billion of deals in the first two quarters compared to $18.794 billion a year earlier.

New-issue volume grows to $10.7 billion led by a $2.7 billion taxable Massachusetts ESG deal, $1.35 billion of Oklahoma natural gas taxables, $1.25 billion from the Regents of the University of California and $1.1 billion from New York City.

Illinois laid out updated six-year transportation packages allocating more than $30 billion in spending.

The training camps will focus on 30 grant programs in the infrastructure law that carry the biggest bang for their buck and allow cities to apply directly to the feds.

A court-ordered modification of the plan is more likely than outright rejection, sources say.

"I think this deal is kind of like football in the pre-season," says County Comptroller Kevin Hardwick. "We're looking at this new issue as a run-up to next year — the big event — when we hope to be bonding for our new stadium for the Buffalo Bills."

Massachusetts had temporarily delayed the $2.7 billion sale as state lawmakers debated additional funding for the state's unemployment trust fund.

Pressure on the short end of the muni curve is being exacerbated by a 3.24% two-year Treasury note, from a correction to floating rate notes and dealer positions.

The bulging surpluses are a result of $5 trillion in economic stimulus from the federal government including American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds which boosted economic activity and tax revenues.

The debt issued through conduit Gallatin County, Montana, benefits an aerial firefighting company that went public through a SPAC weeks after the bonds sold.

The $2.2 billion will be divided evenly between urban and rural communities, with 75% going to projects in poor or disadvantaged areas.

Chicago projects a $127.9 million gap looms in 2023. That's down from the $306 million projected in May and the $867 million from last year's forecast for the coming year.

The Investment Company Institute reported investors poured in $1.589 billion into muni bond mutual funds in the week ending August 3, the highest level since November.