Port Authority, MTA Run Into Trouble Selling Bonds [UPDATED]

The troubles of the credit world seem to be hitting the public sector, too, as the Port Authority and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority each got zero bidders on a $100 million set of bonds yesterday.

No bidders means no sale, and no sale means these public authorities aren’t getting the up-front money they want and need for capital projects. A lack of bidders on the state agencies’ bonds tends to be rare, finance experts say, as they tend to be rated high and reliable.

Spokespeople from the MTA and the Port Authority confirmed the failed bids.

Bloomberg News has an article with a whole lot more on this finance stuff.

Update 8:50 p.m.

Port Authority spokeswoman Candace McAdams e-mailed to reinforce the strength of the agency’s financial credibility, saying that the bonds are typically rated the high-level AA.

“This is not about the PA's credit worthiness right now it is about a financial instrument that has lost attractiveness in the marketplace,” she wrote.