Author Archives: David

Fed’s Bullard Says Next Interest Rate Hike `May Not Be Far Off’

By Steve Matthews (Bloomberg) — Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President James Bullard said the U.S. central bank could be getting close to raising interest rates again, after it opted to take a pass on a rate hike last … Read more

State and Local Governments Lose Battle against Federal Preemption

GFOA Newsletter  Tuesday, February 16, 2016 Despite strong sustained opposition from GFOA and other groups representing local government, Senate leaders announced a legislative deal that would compromise local governments’ ability to deliver essential services to their communities. Senators dropped their … Read more

U.S. House Approves Bill to Classify Muni Securities as High Quality Liquid Assets

GFOA Newsletter: Tuesday, February 2, 2016 On February 1, the House voted to approve HR 2209, bipartisan legislation that would require federal regulators to classify all investment-grade, liquid, and readily marketable municipal securities as high quality liquid assets (HQLA). This … Read more

Reserves Remain Short of Pre-Recession Levels in Most States

January 05, 2016      By Alex Boucher and Matt McKillop States have made halting progress in rebuilding their financial cushions since the Great Recession. Overall, states had enough money in general fund budget reserves in fiscal year 2007—just before the economic … Read more

Bob Doll’s 10 predictions for 2016

By Jeff Benjamin Coming off a 2015 prediction record of seven correct out of 10, Robert Doll, chief market strategist at Nuveen Asset Management, is advising an overweight in equities this year but warning of a bumpy ride ahead. As … Read more

Moody’s: US state and local government outlooks are stable for 2016

Global Credit Research – 04 Dec 2015 New York, December 04, 2015 — The 2016 outlook for both US states and local governments remain stable as the continuing recovery of the US economy drives moderate tax revenue growth, Moody’s Investors … Read more

States Ended Fiscal 2015 on Strong Note; 2016 Forecasts Less So

GFOA Newsletter, December 10, 2015 State tax revenues grew by 6.8% in the second quarter of 2015, the final quarter of the fiscal year for 46 states, according to the most recent State Revenue Report of the Nelson A. Rockefeller … Read more

Fed’s Big Three Expected to Reinforce December as Liftoff Option

Yellen, Fischer and Dudley all set to speak publicly Wednesday Officials may seek to end period of confusion in markets   By Christopher Condon (Bloomberg) — Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen and her top two lieutenants, all speaking publicly Wednesday, … Read more

Fed Rate-Increase Odds Drop Below 10% for October, Futures Show

(Bloomberg) — The bond market shows traders see only an 8 percent chance the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates at its Oct. 27-28 meeting following weaker-than-expected employment growth. Treasury 10-year notes ended five days of gains Monday as stocks … Read more

Bond Market’s Dilemma Isn’t So Bad After All

   by Liz McCormick, Daniel Kruger, Kasia Klimasinska For bond investors worried about what might happen when the Federal Reserve starts whittling down its $2.46 trillion of Treasuries, there’s good news. You’ll barely even notice. The central bank plans to … Read more