Stifel hires Narens to boost high-yield trading

Stifel has hired Joseph Narens, who spent a decade at Citi, to oversee the firm's institutional high-yield trading across the firm's municipal securities business line. Narens joined Stifel Wednesday as managing director and head of high yield municipal trading. He will be based in Los Angeles. Most recently he headed high yield municipal trading and credit analytics at Citi, which recently exited the municipal bond business.

Registration is open for The Bond Buyer Texas Public Finance conference in Austin in April.

Chicago plans to issue $80.865 million of senior lien airport revenue refunding bonds for Midway International Airport in a deal that would replace variable-rate debt and associated swaps with fixed-rate bonds. Chicago Chief Financial Officer Jill Jaworski said the city is pursuing the refunding because "market dynamics are favorable to terminate the associated swaps and issue fixed-rate refunding bonds."

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High-speed rail would win $205 billion of federal support over five years under a bill introduced last week that's gained 30 co-sponsors, all Democrats, and support from high-speed rail and labor groups. Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Mass., and Rep. Suzan DelBene, D-Wash., introduced the American High-Speed Rail Act to invest in the development of a national high-speed corridor system.

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The Kansas Department of Transportation expects to head to the municipal market this summer with its first bond issue to help finance a $10 billion, statewide transportation improvement program. The $200 million of bonds backed by state highway fund revenue will be sold in a negotiated deal for the 10-year Eisenhower Legacy Transportation Program, which launched in July 2020, according to Steve Hale, a KDOT spokesman. The program is dubbed "IKE" in honor of Kansas-reared Dwight D. Eisenhower, who launched the Interstate highway program as president.

Read the newest research from The Bond Buyer detailing the public finance industry’s views of the risks and opportunities in 2024.

Rural hospitals and clinics are closing in Wisconsin while Democratic Gov. Tony Evers battles the state's Republican legislature over Medicaid expansion.

Long-term municipal bond sales dropped for the second straight year in 2023, but a late year surge of issuance raised hopes for a rebound. Learn more in The Bond Buyer’s annual review of municipal bond market statistics.

Municipals were little changed Wednesday as two billion-dollar-plus deals from the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York and CommonSpirit Health took focus.

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