Featured Municipal Bond in the Market, Week of 06/12/2017: State of Mississippi General Obligation Refunding Bonds – $450 Million
This week’s featured bond comes from the State of Mississippi. The State of Mississippi is issuing general obligation bonds in the amount of $450 million the week of June 12, 2017. The bonds consist of a single series, Series 2017A for the purposes of advance refunding previously issued general State obligation bonds from 2006-2008, and 2011-2013.
The bonds are general obligations backed by the full faith and credit of the State of Mississippi. It should be noted that in 1995, qualified electors of the State voted in a general election to amend the State Constitution to add a section declaring that “Neither the Supreme Court nor any inferior court of this state shall have the power to instruct or order the state of any political subdivision thereof, or an official of the state or any political subdivision, to levy or increase taxes.” The Amendment does not affect the State’s underlying obligation to pay the principal of and interest on the Series 2017A Bonds. However, further details on the purposes, security, tax status, and other matters pertaining to these State of Mississippi general obligation bonds can the found in the preliminary official statement, provided by MuniOS.
As of April 2017, the Commonwealth of Virginia has an unemployment rate of 5.0%, which is 0.6% higher than the national rate for April, and 1.1% lower than at the same time in 2016. The chart below shows the changes in the Commonwealth of Virginia and U.S. unemployment rates for the past ten years. MuniNet provides this data and more, easily accessible, for all 50 states and each Metropolitan Statistical Area in the country, in our Employment Database.
Provided at left is a quick snapshot of financial characteristics of the State of Mississippi, as of 06/30/2016, along with the medians for other U.S. States for 2015-2016, courtesy of Merritt Research Services, LLC. Merritt has many of the sector medians publicly available and regularly updated on their Benchmark Central page. (Merritt believes the data to be reliable but does not make any representations as to its accuracy or completeness). In addition to the Merritt information related to the featured bond, more information can be found on our municipal bond calendar, city, state, and county pages, and our employment database.
These facts and numbers are for informational purposes, and should not be considered an official disclosure for potential investors. Investors should consult the official statement. None of the information provided should be construed as a recommendation by MuniNet Guide, MuniNet LLC, Merritt Research Services LLC, or any of their employees. Information and analysis is for informational purposes only.