Bonds

Puerto Rico’s power problems continue, with at least two major blackouts in the past week, leading to a rising wave of criticism of Puerto Rico’s LUMA Energy, which may force its departure and could impact the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority debt restructuring. LUMA’s future may be influenced by the PREPA debt negotiations. It currently
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S&P Global Ratings Friday revised its outlook to positive from stable on New Jersey general obligation bonds. The rating agency highlighted the state government’s recent payments to its underfunded state pension system. “The outlook revision follows the second consecutive year the state has budgeted the full annual actuarially determined contribution to its retirement systems,” S&P
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A deluge of ratepayer-backed utility debt in the wake of 2021’s Winter Storm Uri continues with a Kansas regulator approving the state’s first securitization deal. The Kansas Corporation Commission (KCC) on Thursday unanimously passed an irrevocable financing order allowing Kansas Gas Service to issue securitized bonds to recover $328 million in costs incurred during the
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Long-term education debt reached its highest levels on record in 2020, the most recent data sample available, reaching $505 billion. That’s highlighted in Reason Foundation’s recent K-12 Education Spending Spotlight, which leans on U.S. Census Bureau data to show long-term debt has reached its highest level since the organization began releasing the report in 2002.
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Municipals sold off Wednesday with the largest losses up front, pushing the one-year triple-A yield well above 2%, the first time since March 2020. U.S. Treasuries were weaker and equities ended down. U.S. Treasuries started the day with large losses after higher inflation numbers out of Europe led to volatility early on but they pared
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Short-end munis extended their days long selloff, continuing to play catch up to short-end U.S. Treasuries, as triple-A munis correct from recent outperformance relative to taxables. USTs were firmer, while equities were up near the close. Triple-A benchmarks rose 11 to 15 basis points on the one-year and three to eight basis points in two
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Infrastructure projects delivered as public-private partnerships have so far been protected from punishing construction cost increases because the contractors are legally on the hook for cost overruns and have been healthy enough to absorb the blows. But inflation, coupled with material and labor shortages, are prompting some contractors to exit the space, and accelerating a
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Vern Breland, the former mayor of Sterlington, Louisiana, responded Friday to fraud charges leveled by the Securities and Exchange Commission by denying any wrongdoing. Breland, the Texas-based municipal advisory firm Twin Spires Financial, and Aaron Fletcher, owner of Twin Spires, were charged with fraud in June in connection with the sale of some $5.8 million
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Heavy competition for a significantly lower volume of municipal bonds drove a sharp decline in overall underwriting spreads to $3.54 in the first half of 2022, the lowest level in 20 years. The latest data from Refinitiv representing the first six months of 2022 underscores what has been a steady and developing trend over the
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Throughout the first half of the year, supply has fallen below market participants’ expectations, with the drop in issuance being driven by rising interest rates that have stymied refunding and taxable volumes. Continued market volatility, inflation hitting decade highs, and uncertainty over the Federal Reserve’s policy decisions kept issuers on the sidelines. Total volume in
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