After California stunned the $3.7 trillion municipal debt market last year with bankruptcy filings by three of its cities, analysts at Standard & Poor's do not expect any more this year, Reuters reported yesterday. Local government finances in California are improving, and concerns of more municipal bankruptcies popping up in the most populous U.S. state are overdone, said S&P analysts. So far this year, there have been no signs of potential muni bankruptcies, said S&P analyst Gabriel Petek, and S&P analyst Matthew Reining added, "We believe most credits are doing quite well." S&P's David Hitchcock also said that local revenues should pick up as California's housing markets improve. He also said that despite the growing attention to rising pension spending, local governments should be able to manage it.
