Trends in the Regions

While the nonprofit hospital sector shows signs of stabilizing, Houston-based Texas Children's Hospital faces fiscal problems that led to two rating downgrades.

The purpose of restructuring is to help the Pennsylvania hospital operator "avoid a bankruptcy scenario," said Dora Lee of Belle Haven Investments.

Issuers in five Far West states increased their borrowing the first half of the year, while four saw sizable decreases.

The region's municipal bond volume grew by 42.4%, outpacing the nationwide 32% increase in a first-half marked by gas prepay deals and Brightline's big sale.

Midwest bond sales ticked 1.8% higher by volume in the first half of 2024, to $34.377 billion as the region missed out on the big gains in volume nationwide.

Issuers in the eight-state region sold $50.6 billion of bonds with Texas accounting for 65% of the volume.

New York state's issuers topped the Northeast charts as issuance rose in nearly every sector of the market during the first half of 2024.

Proposed guidelines for federal tax credits could undermine the effort to build a clean hydrogen market, critics say.

The state has selected a stretch of Interstate 24 between Nashville and Murfreesboro to be its first "Choice Lane," an optional toll lane to bypass congestion.

Months after the SEC approved several spot bitcoin exchange-traded product shares, a number of Midwest public pension funds are dabbling in crypto investments.