Washington

Issuer fears that ESG regulation will lead to disclosure trouble are overblown, the SEC’s muni office chief said Wednesday.

If the Federal Reserve raises its key interest rate somewhat above what it thinks is a “neutral” level for the economy and stops there, that should help bring inflation down from current elevated levels, Chicago Fed President Charles Evans said.

The U.S. economy won’t be able to avoid a bout of stagflation and markets have yet to tune into the risk of a significant slowdown in growth, said Mohamed El-Erian.

Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President James Bullard said he supports the central bank’s plan to raise interest rates in half-percentage-point steps at coming meetings.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said no one should doubt the U.S. central bank’s resolve to curb the highest inflation in decades, including pushing rates into restrictive territory if needed.

Governance is the single most important ESG factor in public finance ratings, given the impact of governance structure, Fitch said.

California has received the most, at $9.7 billion, followed by New York. Transportation is the top spending category nationally followed by climate, energy and environment.

Rising construction costs coupled with the Great Resignation means New Orleans is receiving fewer bids on its RFPs, Mayor LaToya Cantrell said.

Former Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said the current Fed leaders were too slow to react to surging U.S. inflation and as a result face a period of stagflation, or a combination of stagnant growth and high inflation.

“Unless there are some big surprises, I expect it to be appropriate to raise the policy rate another 50 basis points at each of our next two meetings,” Mester said Friday.