Muni Commentary

According to the DIVER Geo Scores from Lumesis, the employment situation continues to be the top story across all States.  This month, we take a closer look at unemployment and labor force participation as well as touch on foreclosures.

DIVER Geo Scores are designed to quickly communicate the overall economic health of a selected geographic area on a scale of 0 to 10. The Geo Score reflects the relative economic well-being of the location and is available for all States, counties, and approximately 350 of the largest cities. Calculations are released monthly and are based on multiple, meaningful economic and demographic data from the employment, income and housing categories.

This week we bring you the September 2018 DIVER Geo Scores.  In addition to our regularly collected data, the U.S. Census Bureau released 2017 poverty rates and most states showed decreasing rates year-over-year. But, before we assume that the rising tide is lifting all boats, some states and cities have weaker employment pictures (as reported last month) and increasing foreclosures.

DIVER Geo Scores are designed to quickly communicate the overall economic health of a selected geographic area on a scale of 0 to 10. The Geo Score reflects the relative economic well-being of the location and is available for all States, counties, and approximately 350 of the largest cities. Calculations are released monthly and are based on multiple, meaningful economic and demographic data from the employment, income and housing categories.

This week we bring you the August 2018 DIVER Geo Scores.  With jobless rates continuing to fall across the board, we will take a look at where the biggest improvements are and also how other factors like labor participation rates and foreclosure rates are negatively impacting certain areas of the country.

It’s that time of year again. With “Summer days driftin’away[1]” parents are spending money on clothes their kids will grow out of in a few months, and hotel magnates’ adult children are starting kindergarten to “prove to Dad that I am not a fool[2].”

In August 2018, Lumesis conducted a survey of municipal issuers regarding the management of their continuing disclosure obligations.  Our outreach was to a finite set of diverse issuers and obligated parties and over 200 responded to the ten question survey.  Below, we provide insight into the survey results.

This week we bring you the July 2018 DIVER Geo Scores.  With the economy seemingly on sound footing, we highlight States, counties and cities with lower Geo Scores and, importantly, those trending lower over the past year.  In the coming weeks, we will revisit import and export sensitive States taking a closer look at trading partners and potential winners and losers from the ongoing tariff threats.

With the recent Supreme Court decision overturning the Professional and Amateur Sports Betting Act of 1992, many state governments are changing their laws to allow for legalized betting on professional sports leagues. While sports’ betting was already legal in Nevada, Delaware and New Jersey have now quickly passed and implemented legislation to legalize sports betting. As many as 16 other states including New York, West Virginia, and Mississippi are also working on passing legislation to legalize sports betting.

This week we bring you the May 2018 DIVER Geo Scores which highlight, in many instances, the improving employment picture. We will then look at the newly released 2017 census data and corresponding Geo Score trends.

 DIVER Geo Scores are designed to quickly communicate the overall economic health of a selected geographic area on a scale of 0 to 10. The Geo Score reflects the relative economic well-being of the location and is available for all States, counties, and approximately 350 of the largest cities. Calculations are released monthly and are based on multiple, meaningful economic data and demographic data from the employment, income and housing categories. More information on Lumesis data and solutions can be found by visiting Our Solutions.

 Hello Everyone, while there is a lot to cover on current events including tariffs with China, Paul Ryan going back to Wisconsin, and the supposed death of attorney-client privilege, this week here at Lumesis we thought it would be appropriate to look at marijuana sales tax revenues at the state level. While we won’t state whether we did or “didn’t inhale[1],” or if good people do or “don’t smoke marijuana[2],” or if we are simply “holding it for a friend[3],” we decided it would be better that if we were going to talk about this better to do so here rather than “somewhere else where something bad could happen[4].”

This week we bring you the March 2018 DIVER Geo Scores, focusing on locations with the greatest moves year on year, as well as the top and bottom scores at the State, City, and County levels for the month of March. We also look at employment to examine whether the picture is as rosy as it seems.

DIVER Geo Scores are designed to quickly communicate the overall economic health of a selected geographic area on a scale of 0 to 10. The Geo Score reflects the relative economic well-being of the location and is available for all States, counties, and approximately 350 of the largest cities. Calculations are released monthly and are based on multiple, meaningful economic and demographic data from the employment, income and housing categories.