Latest News on Municipal Bonds

Open Source Model Assigns Credit Scores to 260 California Cities
PR Newswire (press release)
The model is based on an analysis of municipal bond defaults ranging from the Depression era to those of Stockton and San Bernardino in 2012. City bond defaults in the Depression were largely attributable to high debt service burdens and declining ...

Google News

Morgan Keegan Denies Fraud in Offering Defaulted Moberly Bonds
Bloomberg
By Brian Chappatta - 2013-05-13T04:00:01Z. Morgan Keegan & Co. is seeking to dismiss a petition that claims the underwriter made fraudulent statements when offering $39 million of now-defaulted municipal bonds for an artificial-sweetener plant in ...

The many perils of muni bonds - InvestmentNews
InvestmentNews
While her much-ballyhooed prediction in December 2010 of imminent and sweeping defaults in the muni bond market never materialized, there have been defaults scattered around the country. And the potential for more defaults, given the sluggish economic ...

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S&P upgrades National Public Finance, says may get A rating - GlobalPost
GlobalPost
MBIA had long been in the sleepy business of guaranteeing municipal debt against default, but last decade it began guaranteeing riskier structured bonds, such as repackaged mortgage securities, in a bid to add revenue and profit. That backfired as MBIA ...

Google News

SEC's Gallagher Says Politicians Responsible for Bond Statements
Bloomberg
Gallagher, 40, last month raised broader concerns about the municipal-bond market, saying investors could be in for “Armageddon” if some cities default on their payments and interest rates rise. The SEC has historically devoted “a very small proportion ...

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US junk bond market ignites as money keeps pouring in
Reuters
May 10 (IFR) - The US junk bond market is back in full swing, with investors embracing riskier assets in the hunt for yield and issuers getting away with historically tight pricing - and increasingly aggressive structures. And while the high-yield ...

Google News

GoLocalProv
Insurance Policy Would Pay Back 38 Studio Bonds
GoLocalProv
Unlike Harrisburg, a default on the 38 Studios bonds would occur because the state is unwilling to pay them, Fazioli said. “In the bond market, that would carry a negative tone for quite a long time,” Fazioli said. “In the municipal bond world, that ...

Detroit mass meeting holds banks accountable for city's financial ruin
Workers World
Coalition to Stop Foreclosures, Evictions and Utility Shut-offs presented a representative sample of documents related to the bond issues and loans that are at the root of the financial crisis in the city. ... A Power Point program, prepared by Mike ...

Google News

Gross puts money where his mouth is, boosts Treasuries to highest level since ...
InvestmentNews
Gross, the founder of Pimco and manager of the world's biggest bond fund, has been advising investors to sell riskier assets and buy government debt, including inflation-linked securities and nominal Treasuries as central banks pursue unprecedented ...

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The Week Magazine
Is Jamie Dimon headed for a demotion?
The Week Magazine
The most high-profile controversy would be last spring's "London Whale" fiasco, in which risky bets involving credit default swaps led to $6 billion in losses for the bank. Dimon came under ... These cases involve "dealings with mortgage borrowers and ...

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S&P upgrades National Public Finance, says may get A rating
Reuters
MBIA had long been in the sleepy business of guaranteeing municipal debt against default, but last decade it began guaranteeing riskier structured bonds, such as repackaged mortgage securities, in a bid to add revenue and profit. That backfired as MBIA ...

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Don't damage America's full faith and credit
The Hill (blog)
And yet, when an impasse over the debt limit loomed two years ago, then-Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner insisted his only option was to default on the nation's credit. Whether this was a crude ... guaranteeing their debt. Last year in testimony to ...

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Thomson Reuters News & Insight
Who won the $1.7 bln settlement between BofA and MBIA?
Thomson Reuters News & Insight
Assuming the insurer can reach a settlement with Societe Generale, the cloud of uncertainty over its 2009 split will be entirely removed and MBIA's bond insurance arm will be able to return to the business of writing policies on state and municipal ...
MBIA Escapes Distressed Label in BofA Accord: Corporate FinanceBusinessweek
After Years of Battling, Bank of America and MBIA Settle Mortgage DisputeNew York Times (blog)
$1.7B payout as BofA penaltyWorcester Telegram
Insurance Journal -DailyFinance
all 201 news articles »

Florida Bonds prone to default proving most-wanted
Bradenton Herald
Defaults on the debt soared when home purchases dwindled as the housing bubble burst. New single- family home sales fell six straight years starting in 2005, Census Bureau data show. The obligations are among the riskiest in the $3.7 trillion municipal ...

Moody's: Municipal bond defaults have increased since financial crisis, but ...
Moodys.com (press release) (registration)
New York, May 07, 2013 -- Municipal bond defaults have increased in number since the start of the financial crisis, but remain extremely infrequent, says Moody's Investors Service in its annual report "US Municipal Bond Defaults and Recoveries, 1970 ...
Muni defaults still rare, but alarming trend developing, Moody's saysMarketWatch (blog)
UPDATE 1-Moody's: Municipal defaults up since crisis, but still lowReuters
Moody's: Muni Default Rate Triples In Past Five Years – To 0.03%Barron's (blog)
Seeking Alpha
all 8 news articles »

While fears of widespread defaults in the municipal bond (MUB) market ...
Seeking Alpha
While fears of widespread defaults in the municipal bond (MUB) market (perpetuated in December of 2010 by Meredith Whitney) have so far proven overblown, Moody's says a disturbing trend seems to be developing. Although only five defaults were ...

Google News

Muni defaults still rare, but alarming trend developing, Moody's says
MarketWatch (blog)
It was less than three years ago that Meredith Whitney, famed banking bear, was making her next call that 50 to 100 sizable municipalities would default on their bonds in the near future. That hasn't come to pass, and Moody's' latest assessment of ...
Moody's: Muni Default Rate Triples In Past Five Years – To 0.03%Barron's (blog)
UPDATE 1-Moody's: Municipal defaults up since crisis, but still lowReuters

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Moody's: Muni Default Rate Triples In Past Five Years – To 0.03%
Barron's (blog)
Moody's is out today with a big-picture report on defaults in the muni bond market over the past four decades, and the key take-away is that the average annual default rate has tripled over the past five years – to 0.03%, from 0.01%. Alert Meredith ...
UPDATE 1-Moody's: Municipal defaults up since crisis, but still lowReuters

all 5 news articles »

UPDATE 1-Moody's: Municipal defaults up since crisis, but still low
Reuters
WASHINGTON May 7 (Reuters) - Moody's Investors Service said on Tuesday that the number of defaults among the U.S. municipal bonds it rates has risen since the financial crisis but still remains low. The economy has been recovering but many local ...

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Economic Times
MBIA Escapes Distressed Label in BofA Accord: Corporate Finance
Businessweek
Credit-default swaps tied to MBIA, which in February cast “substantial doubt” about the ability of one of its main units to continue as a going concern, dropped by the most on record after the settlement was announced yesterday. The plunge was ...
After Years of Battling, Bank of America and MBIA Settle Mortgage DisputeNew York Times (blog)
$1.7B payout as BofA penaltyWorcester Telegram
MBIA, Bank of America Reach $1.6 Billion Settlement - Insurance JournalInsurance Journal
DailyFinance
all 190 news articles »