Sell side

NYPA's green designation and two credit upgrades are drawing lots of attention in a crowded market.

Several factors make the current market "an attractive entry point" into the muni market, AllianceBernstein strategists said. For one, municipal valuations are cheap to fair value relative to U.S. Treasuries, partially due to the surge of supply in 2024.

The Los Angeles Unified School District bonds carry a sustainability label with a third party opinion from Kestrel.

"Should September's positive returns hold as we expect, it would mark the fourth consecutive month of positive total returns — the first such period since the five-month period spanning from March through July 2021," BofA strategists Yingchen Li and Ian Rogow said.

The airport's first new money foray into the muni market in nearly 12 years will begin to fund a $1.3 billion transformation plan.

The record pace of municipal bond supply this year is driven in part by cities and states realizing projects won't get any cheaper if they wait.

The competitive sale comes as the market prepares for a very New York-heavy week next week in the primary.

While supply falls next week as investors await their first Fed rate cut in four years, it should pick up after the FOMC, Barclays PLC said, adding the 30-day visible pipeline "is at relatively manageable levels at the moment." Bond Buyer 30-day visible supply is at $10.09 billion.

Moodys says it is placing additional weight on the states' Aaa ratings in determining the Garvee ratings.

The commission approved $73 million of limited obligation bonds for Rowan County schools.

Fitch also upgraded the city's Georgia Municipal Association certificates of participation (city of Atlanta public safety projects) to AA-plus from AA.

Piper Sandler has hired Joe Kinder and Brent Blevins as managing directors on its public finance team. Both will focus on Missouri school districts and issuers.

Massachusetts drew multiple bidders for all four tranches when it sold $850 million of general obligation bonds competitively last week.

Municipal supply continues to grow as Bond Buyer 30-day visible supply sits at $20.02 billion and the municipal market will see one of the largest weeks of new-issuance at an estimated $13.35 billion, led by three billion-plus deals from Washington, D.C. ($1.6 billion), the New York City Transitional Finance Authority ($1.5 billion) and Illinois ($1 billion).

Illinois will sell up to $1.1 billion of general obligation refunding bonds and $600 million of taxable and tax-exempt GO bonds by the end of September.

The $180.24 million deal comprises $76.085 million of metropolitan district bonds and $104.155 million of consolidated public improvement bonds.

As extreme weather events occur with more frequency across the country, Michael Gaughan, executive director of the Vermont Bond Bank, says municipal bond banks can help smaller communities deal with the effects of them. Gaughan speaks with The Bond Buyer's Lynne Funk on the effects of climate change and how the various levels of government can work together to address it.

Investors will see more than $7.8 billion of supply to start off September, following a record issuance month in August. The calendar is led by the North Texas Tollway Authority's $1.126 billion of system revenue refunding bonds while high-grade Massachusetts leads the competitive slate with $850 million of exempt and taxable general obligation bonds.

The sale follows the utility's successful initiation of two nuclear power units in the last 13 months.

Chicago will bring to market $1 billion of bonds for O'Hare International Airport, part one of a three-phase financing plan for 2024.