Washington

New York MTA and 10 other transit systems have cited the crippling effects of ridership drops due to COVID-19.

Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President James Bullard said the U.S. should declare the equivalent of a three-month break for nonessential businesses to fight the spread of the coronavirus.

Senate Democrats voted as a bloc Sunday evening to stop consideration of an estimated $1.6 trillion relief package because of its perceived shortcomings, including the lack of provisions to assist state and local governments.

We are desperately trying to establish the bottom at present to provide a modicum of confidence that investors may stop raising cash and would be more inclined to put the cash horde back to work in the market.

The draft released Senate Republicans did not address emergency funding for state and local governments or publicly owned hospitals and airports.

The Fed allowing use of munis as collateral in its MMLF program won't fix all the problems caused by COVID-19 and may add issues.

Some market professionals were quick to say that the step would not be sufficient to soften the blows hammering the wider muni market.

The SEC answered questions regarding COVID-19 disclosure in a webinar Thursday and said there would not be relief for issuers' late annual financial filings.

The central bank said its program to support money market mutual funds will also serve as a backstop for state and local governments.

A Senate bill to be introduced Friday would allow the Federal Reserve to purchase municipal debt, in an effort to ease the economic strain of the coronavirus pandemic on state and local governments.