A Municipal Bonds Blog

Casino Muni Bond Defaults Because “The People Got Fed Up”

A federal court actually allowed an American Indian tribe to get out of a $50 million bond it owed to a private investor, raising concerns among other tribal-casino lenders. The…

Muni Default Risk To Get Worse Before It Gets Better

Take a look at this WSJ video with Bob DiMella, manager of the Mainstay Tax Free Fund. In summary he says:

Harrisburg Bonds May Incinerate Value ( 41473EFH9 )

Buffet says ” when the tide goes out, you get to see who is swimming naked”.

Muni Bond Defaults Need A louder Alarm

This article was updated on January 17th, 2025 Less than a month before the $43.4 million municipal bond default of Boston-based Crosstown Center, an unsuspecting retail buyer purchased $100,000 of…

AMBAC Lives Another Day

Key Developments AMBAC shows signs of survival despite recent bankruptcy concerns Company reports $856M surplus, exceeding regulatory minimums Stock price jumps over 30% to $1.30 $440 million tax refund provides…

AMBAC Bites The Dust…?

The Short Version Remember when muni bond insurance was supposedly bulletproof? Well, those days are gone Bond insurers went from heroes to zeros in the municipal market Only about 10%…

Special Assessment Bonds Trigger 2009 Muni Defaults

Muni bond defaults moved past $4 billion from January thru September 2009  driven partly by the bursting of the real estate bubble which in turn  triggered  defaults in “Special Assessment”…

Legacy Credit Ratings Don’t Jive With Market Reality

In mid August, the bond section of the Charles Schwab brokerage Web site said a representative ten-year, single-A muni yielded 5.9%, and a ten-year, triple-A yielded 4.1%. But when you…

Don’t sweat ratings downgrades on GOs?

In terms of safety, governors and state treasurers argue, GO state debt should be equivalent to Treasury bonds, or at least triple-A-rated corporate bonds. Although states can’t print their own…

Critics Complain of Bond Raters’ Conflicts at US Congress Hearings

Reading thru  Jeffrey R. Kosnett column from Kiplinger  “Beyond bond ratings”, (Oct 7, 2009 )