Iowa hospital's 'financial freefall' sparks move to seek receiver

Financial woes at an Iowa hospital led major bondholder Preston Hollow Community Capital and the bond trustee to state court seeking the appointment of a receiver and demanding the immediate payment of principal and interest in the wake of default events. Mercy Iowa City hospital officials pushed back. Mercy Iowa City said it was blindsided by the receivership move, claiming Preston Hollow canceled an in-person meeting that had been scheduled last week. "We are deeply disappointed by Preston Hollow's actions when we have taken many steps to improve our finances and kept them informed and involved with our day-to-day operations and strategies," said Mark Toney, its chief restructuring officer.

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Brandon Comer and his firm Comer Capital Group, the municipal advisor charged by the Securities and Exchange Commission with breaching his fiduciary duty on a $6 million 2015 bond offering for the Harvey, Illinois, Public Library District, are in talks to settle ahead of a pretrial conference scheduled for Nov. 17.

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The debate continues over the future of monetary policy. "The U.S. is not out of the woods when it comes to inflation," said Peter Berezin, chief global strategist at BCA Research, "which means that it is too early to conclude that the Fed can stop raising rates." On the other hand, despite traders pricing in a 25% chance of another rate hike this year, Tom Garretson, senior portfolio strategist at RBC Wealth Management, said, "we maintain our view that the rate hike cycle is effectively over."

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The U.S. Department of Transportation has announced a new center to help local transportation agencies spend infrastructure grants "on time, on task and on budget." The Project Delivery Center of Excellence will guide grant recipients on the development and delivery of infrastructure projects with information on subjects like permits, contracts and bond issuances.?

Check out our most recent Rising Stars and the inaugural class of Muni Hall of Famers.

Municipals were weaker Tuesday in secondary trading to start the month as several large deals took focus in the primary market. Munis slightly outperformed Treasury losses as the first round of August redemptions buoyed the market. Triple-A yield curves were cut three to six basis points, depending on the scale, while UST yields rose up to eight basis point at 20 and 30 years.

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U.S. Rep. Raúl Grijalva, D-Ariz., and representatives of several U.S. territories filed a bill that would require federal departments to have advisors on territorial affairs.

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