Public finance

The city is projecting a $100 million deficit in its current budget once the public health crisis caused by COVID-19 eases, Mayor Mike Duggan said.

The market appears to be moving toward some semblance of normal conditions as the new-issue pricings and moderating bid volume create a more stable tone.

The council wants to focus on the social safety net in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Despite a muted month of March due to the COVID-19 pandemic which included two weeks of no negotiated deals, muni bond issuers still sold more long-term debt than they did during the first three months of 2019. Issuers accounted for a total of $84.87 billion of bonds throughout 2,119 transactions, compared to $75.84 billion in 1,809 deals in first quarter of 2019. The top 10 features five newcomers from a year ago, including the top spot.

Underwriters of municipal bonds did the majority of business during the first two months of the year, before COVID-19 swept the country with sickness and severe spreading. The top underwriters accounted for $87.84 billion of bonds throughout 2,119 transactions, compared to $75.84 billion in 1,809 deals in first quarter of 2019.

Laura Kelly is promoting the plan as an economic stimulus.

Tax-exempt and taxable deals priced as dealers opened up their balance sheets to new issues while the market still awaits word from the Fed on coronavirus-led purchase programs.

State Departments of Transportation said $50 billion would provide states the ability to meet existing debt obligations.

Municipal market participants are confused, to say the least, about the Federal Reserve and its ability to buy long-term municipal securities. And there’s a good reason for the puzzlement.

More federal rescue moves are necessary for the nation’s largest mass transit system, according to the advocacy group Reinvent Albany.

With Fed purchases on short end, more deals are showing up on the calendar and this week may become the testing ground for reopening the primary as participants gauge volatility and rates.

Public finance advocates are focused on the reinstatement of advance refunding and higher limits on bank-qualified issuance.

Dale Folwell is recovering from the virus at home after spending five days in a North Carolina hospital.

The corporate bond business appears to enjoy greater liquidity than tax-exempts, said Lee Deviney, executive director of the Texas Public Finance Authority.

The coronavirus has ravaged nerves worldwide and spread its gloom into the financial sector. The U.S. municipal bond market is slipping into park from neutral as most issuers and underwriters await a better day.

Lori Lightfoot's confident statements about the city's fiscal resilience aren't wholeheartedly shared by the muni buy-side as the coronavirus hurts the economy.

There will be more queasiness ahead of any calm in municipals as adjustments to the coronavirus-induced climate continue to test the market’s resolve.

The bond-financed $420 million expansion project moved forward over the objections of board members who questioned the timing amid plummeting tax revenues.

The rating agency echoed others in citing the New York transportation system's hard fall since the coronavirus outbreak.

Urban areas will get $22.7 billion in formula funds and $2.2 billion will go to rural areas.