Inside these posts: Illinois bonds

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High yield may up demand for $3.7B Illinois bond

The cash-strapped state of Illinois will likely offer juicy yields to entice buyers of a $3.7 billion taxable pension bond expected to be sold Wednesday in the municipal-bond market.

According to a term sheet, initial price talk for the longest maturity in the offering, dated 2019, is about 2.40 percentage points above comparable Treasurys, for a yield of about 5.85%. That is about 1.79 percentage point more than comparably rated nine-year debt from cigarette maker Philip Morris International Inc., which traded at 0.61 percentage point above Treasurys on Tuesday. It is also 0.05 percentage point tighter than the initial price target on the deal for that maturity. Get the full story »

Illinois pursuing disclosures on state debt

Illinois politicians are reviewing whether to follow in California’s footsteps by forcing its bond underwriters to disclose what credit derivatives they have entered into on the state’s debt.

Staff members working for Illinois House of Representatives Speaker Michael Madigan reached out to California officials on Wednesday for information about how the Golden State has gone about improving disclosures relating to credit default swaps on its own state debt. Get the full story »

Illinois tobacco bonds to fly with ’sweet’ yield

From Bloomberg News | Illinois began taking orders from individuals on $1.46 billion in municipal bonds backed by tobacco settlement payments to help meet $2 billion in outstanding bills. The so-called Railsplitter Tobacco bonds are the week’s largest issue and the state’s biggest tax-exempt borrowing since a $1.5 billion refinancing deal in February. Get the full story>>

Moody’s lowers outlook on Illinois to negative

Moody’s Investors Service revised the outlook on Illinois’ A1 general obligation debt rating to negative from stable, citing intensified financial stress facing the state.

“The state reported a very large negative fund balance for fiscal 2009 and has faced fragile economic conditions and continuing uncertainty over its ability to meet pension funding obligations,” Moody’s said in a statement. Get the full story »