Small firms describe frustrations in response to MSRB request

Small municipal bond market firms say they are being overburdened by an excessive regulatory environment that favors the large Wall Street firms, citing recent amendments to Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board Rule G-14 on time of trade that reduces the trade reporting window to one minute. Those complaints are being expressed as part of the MSRB's request for information from small firms.

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A hotter-than-anticipated inflation report spurred a selloff in U.S. Treasuries and equities, and municipals could not ignore the broader markets, closing weaker on the day. Triple-A yields rose up to six basis points but largely outperformed Treasury losses that touched 17 to 20 basis points on the short end.

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The days of booming job growth in Texas may be ebbing, according to the Dallas Federal Reserve, which expects the state to return to more normal growth of 2% this year. In their economic outlook for the Lone Star State released Friday, Dallas Fed economists projected the addition of 283,500 jobs in 2024, following gains of 3.1% in 2023, 4.3% in 2022, and 6.1% in 2021 that outpaced the nation. "We see some slowing at the end of 2023, but we still see significant momentum enough to carry us through, we think, to reach average, typical growth in 2024," said Pia Orrenius, a vice president and senior economist at the bank.

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Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey's $56.1 billion budget proposal for fiscal 2025 calls for increased funding to the state's Commonwealth Transportation Fund that will enable it to borrow an additional $1.1 billion over the next five years. The fiscal 2025 budget proposal would dedicate $250 million of transportation revenues from the Fair Share income tax surtax enacted in 2022 directly into the CTF, "unlocking the capacity to borrow an additional $1.1 billion for capital projects."

Read the newest research from The Bond Buyer detailing the public finance industry’s views of the risks and opportunities in 2024.

The number of distressed charter schools rose to a record in the beginning of 2024 as the sector struggles with the end of pandemic assistance and rising costs.

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