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Build America Bonds, orphaned after Congress failed to extend the program in 2010, are on a pace to beat Treasuries and tax-exempts for a third straight year. Created by President Barack Obama’s 2009 economic stimulus, the taxable bonds have earned 8.3 percent this year through Sept. 12, compared with 1.7 percent for federal debt and 5.8 percent for [...]
Princeton University’s endowment probably earned zero to 5 percent on its investments in the past fiscal year, according to President Shirley Tilghman. The Ivy League school is expected to release returns for the year ended June 30 by next month. The endowment returned 22 percent in fiscal 2011, and 15 percent in the prior period. [...]
U.S. cities are recovering from the recession even as they continue to face pressure from sliding property tax revenue, state budget cuts and rising employee costs, according to a report. Fifty-seven percent of cities say they were “better able to meet financial needs’’ this year than in 2011, according to an annual survey by the National League of Cities released yesterday. It [...]
JPMorgan Chase & Co. stood to gain more than just its share of $7.8 million in fees by helping Detroit’s water and sewer agency issue new debt after the city staved off insolvency. The department’s $659.8 million June bond sale let it pay more than $300 million to banks, including JPMorgan, to end interest-rate swaps while raising its borrowing cost. The utility, with [...]
Hillsboro, Oregon, the fifth-most populous city in the state, plans to finance a new minor league baseball stadium with debt backed by its full faith and credit. The team that’s currently known as the Yakima Bears, the single-A affiliate of MLB’s Arizona Diamondbacks, will play at the new stadium, which is expected to cost $15.2 million, Hillsboro City Manager [...]
California Treasurer Bill Lockyer will push for limits on bonds that have saddled school districts with debt payments as much as 10 times the principal and seek to ban those maturing more than 25 years in the future, a spokesman said. Lockyer, a 71-year-old Democrat, will work with lawmakers next year on a bill to ban such capital-appreciation bonds, Tom Dresslar [...]
U.S. charter schools are issuing municipal debt at the fastest pace since 2007 as enrollment grows, national networks expand and the lowest yields in a generation spur construction and refinancing. The independent public schools operate without many of the rules governing traditional institutions in exchange for more accountability for student achievement. They have sold about $580 million of munis this year [...]
The $3.7 trillion municipal market is poised to recover from the lowest returns for August since 2007 as cash flowing to investors from maturing or refinanced local-government debt eclipses the sale of new bonds. Munis have returned about 0.1 percent since July 31, the least for August in five years, Bank of America Merrill Lynch data show. The market earned 1.5 [...]
