Bonds

The top bond counsel firms combined for a total of $359.123 billion in 7,878 transactions during 2022, down from the $456.136 billion in 11,819 deals in 2021. Only four firms remained in the same spot as in the prior last year: Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe, Kutak Rock, Norton Rose Fulbright and Chapman and Cutler. Bryant

York County, South Carolina, priced $24.6 million of revenue bonds Wednesday to recoup costs incurred by the county to take over of a private water utility operation. The proceeds will cover a portion of the $36 million price tag York County paid to take over private firm Blue Granite Water’s water utility operations in the

Texas lawmakers are moving ahead with a huge property tax cut thanks to a record budget surplus.  The $130 billion general revenue fund biennial budget bills introduced last week by the Republican-controlled House and Senate include $15 billion in property tax cuts with the Senate version calling for increasing the homestead exemption to $70,00 from

Roger Millar, AASHTO’s new president and chief of Washington’s Department of Transportation, joins Caitlin Devitt to talk about the rollout of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, how a tight labor market and inflation are impacting capital plans, what a divided Congress means for transportation and an update on the Pacific Northwest’s high speed rail project. (24

Hawaii lawmakers will debate a plan by Gov. Josh Green that could alter the state’s tax structure. His proposal would shift some of the tax burden from middle-class Hawaiians to tourists, who fuel the state’s economy. Green took office Dec. 5, replacing termed-out David Ige, who served for eight years. “Today, we need new ideas,

Connecticut’s surplus projection for the current fiscal year received a $324.7 million boost. The Connecticut Office for Policy and Budget Management’s recently announced forecast for fiscal 2023, which runs through June, projects general fund revenue of $23.2 billion. Compared to December’s projections, revenues are up $265.3 million and expenses are down $59.4 million. That $324.7

The Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority approved a contract Thursday with a consortium to run its electric generating facilities, despite observers raising some concerns about one member of the group. The consortium, Genera PR, would include New Fortress Energy, the El Nuevo Día and El Vocero web sites reported. New Fortress is a liquified natural

Municipals were weaker in spots Friday, outperforming a U.S. Treasury selloff, while equities ended up. The three-year muni-UST ratio was at 55%, the five-year at 58%, the 10-year at 64% and the 30-year at 87%, according to Refinitiv MMD’s 3 p.m. ET read. ICE Data Services had the three at 55%, the five at 59%,

A suburban Chicago hotel and conference center working to get back on track from COVID-19-induced operating struggles made a partial payment on overdue interest owed to some holders of $142 million of restructured bonds. Breathing room still remains through this year for the Westin hotel and conference center complex in Lombard from a bondholder-provided loan

Bondholders controlling more than two-thirds of the $180 million outstanding Puerto Rico Industrial Development Co. bonds filed suit against the Puerto Rico Oversight Board and the Fiscal Agency and Financial Advisory Authority seeking full payment. Affiliates of GoldenTree Asset Management LP complained that PRIDCO’s bonds have not paid since the passage of the Puerto Rico

Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller said roughly $2 trillion of reserves could be taken out of the banking system without disrupting banks. Waller discussed monetary policy and his views on the economy during an hourlong event Friday afternoon hosted by the Council on Foreign Relations. During the event, he said the Fed could reduce its

The state of California is expected to see more than twice the demand for its private activity bonds than what is available under the $4.7 billion cap allowed by the IRS for 2023, according to the California Debt Limit Allocation Committee. On Wednesday, the committee, chaired by Treasurer Fiona Ma, approved the $4.7 billion PAB

Minnesota-based Fairview Health Services lost its A-level rating from Moody’s Investors Service and could fall further on the credit scale as it copes with worsening operating struggles that began before the COVID-19 pandemic. Moody’s lowered the rating Wednesday to Baa1 from A3 and assigned a negative outlook. Further downgrades raises the risk that Fairview — which

Municipals were firmer once more on Thursday as triple-A benchmark yields fell further and inflows continued. U.S. Treasuries were weaker and equities ended in the red. The three-year muni-UST ratio was at 56%, the five-year at 59%, the 10-year at 65% and the 30-year at 88%, according to Refinitiv MMD’s 3 p.m. ET read. ICE

Federal Reserve Bank of Boston President Susan Collins said she favors a more moderate pace of interest-rate increases, even as the central bank continues to tighten policy to reduce high inflation. “Now that rates are in restrictive territory and we may — based on current indicators — be nearing the peak, I believe it is

Growth in U.S. prices is expected to ease in the year ahead, contacts surveyed in the Federal Reserve’s latest Beige Book said. “Selling prices increased at a modest or moderate pace in most districts, though many said that the pace of increases had slowed from that of recent reporting periods,” the Fed said Wednesday in

Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President James Bullard said U.S. interest rates have to rise further to ensure that inflationary pressures recede. “We’re almost into a zone that we could call restrictive — we’re not quite there yet,” Bullard said Wednesday in an online Wall Street Journal interview. Officials want to ensure inflation will

Chicago’s Sales Tax Securitization Corp. will take retail orders Wednesday on a long-planned issue that prioritizes local buyers on the city’s first bonds to carry a social bond designation and gives special consideration for environmental, social, and governance investors. The STSC offers $305.3 million of tax-exempt paper in three series — including $98 million of

2022 was either a year to forget or a year to remember for a very long time, depending on your perspective. On one side, investors would want to erase from their memory last year’s historically poor market performance, the weakest in decades. Institutional investors would bemoan the massive fund outflows all year long. On the

Maine Gov. Janet Mills’ proposed biennial budget for fiscal years 2024-2025 seeks to continue a public infrastructure overhaul started in her first term without raising taxes or touching reserve accounts. Instead, it frees up billions in new infrastructure spending by taking advantage of the state’s unexpectedly high estimated revenue of $10.5 billion in addition to