Muni Minute: A Midwest Triple Treat

In the latest installment of Muni Minute – The Bond Buyer's 60-second video series that examines a top municipal market story that will impact the coming week – we take a look at what's happening in the Midwest as the Chicago Public Schools gets set to OK up to $1 billion of bonds, the state of Illinois prepares to competitively sell $573 million of sales tax bonds and the city of Chicago prepares for a return to the market in the third quarter.

VOICE OVER: Three of the highest yielding highest profile credits in the Midwest, Chicago, it's school district and the state all have new municipal bond deals in the works. The most distressed, the Chicago public schools will lay the groundwork on Wednesday for its market return as board of education meets to okay nearly 1 billion in borrowing authority. The district struggled to sell bonds earlier this year but is banking a new 45 million capital improvement dedicated tax levy to shore up buyer appeal. It remains to be seen whether CPS can sell investors on its shaky finances even with greater state help.

On Thursday, Illinois is offering a 573 million sales tax-backed deal. Its double A to triple A ratings should be more than palatable to investors than the state's GOs which are in the triple B range. The city of Chicago will return to market in the third quarter with over 1 billion of new money and refunding GOs, providing insight into whether the city's efforts to stabilize its pension system translate into a yield payoff. Chicago also has water, sales tax and airport deals in the pipeline. I'm Aaron Weitzman and this has been your Muni Minute.