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Howard is a Partner and the Director of Municipal Bond Research for Evercore Wealth Management. He has over 30 years of experience in analyzing municipal securities.
Prior to joining Evercore in 2009, Howard was a director at the Public Finance Department of Financial Guaranty Insurance Company for 11 years. He previously was a vice president with the investment banking firm of Prager, Sealy & Co. and, earlier, a vice president at Moody’s Investors Service. He began his career as an economist with the New York State Senate Finance Committee in Albany, New York.
Howard is widely quoted in the media, including The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg News/Business Week, Barron’s, Reuters, The Financial Times and The Bond Buyer, and he has appeared on CNBC, National Public Radio and Bloomberg News.
Howard received a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics from the State University of New York at Albany, and a joint Master’s Degree in Public Affairs from the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs and an M.B.A. from the McCombs School of Business.
Editor’s note: This article is extracted and updated from “Another Governor for New York: The Muni Outlook,” also by Howard Cure, published by Evercore Wealth Management in August 2021. For bondholders, the transition of power in both New York State and New York City shouldn’t be much cause for concern. Kathy Hochul, who replaced Andrew Cuomo as Governor, is the former Lieutenant Governor. Eric Adams, the presumptive next Mayor of New York City, has significant state and local government experience as well as serving, with distinction, as a NYC police officer.
Both face big challenges, however. Staffing, managing all the issues associated with the coronavirus pandemic, infrastructure spending, and running for office will likely be top of mind for Ms. Hochul. Mr. Adams hopes to improve relations between the city and state, and revive the city’s economy while providing opportunities for all people to share in the growth.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority, or MTA, is among the most pressing issues. The MTA has lost about half of its riders since the pandemic started; emergency federal aid has bolstered the authority against a huge operating deficit. However, budget gaps are on the horizon, as soon as 2025. Fortunately, the state is providing increased financial resources for both operations and capital expenditures.
On a related note, implementing congestion pricing in New York City, which is expected to generate $1 billion a year, is also a challenge. The revenue from congestion pricing – a charge on driving in certain traffic-prone areas – was meant to help fund the MTA’s $51 billion, five-year capital program. Congestion pricing needs to reasonably maximize revenues while determining possible exemptions to the fee. It remains to be seen if capital priorities will change under a new administration.
The relationship between Mr. Cuomo and outgoing New York City Mayor Bill DeBlasio always seemed particularly adversarial, even by New York standards. The city needs state approval for most tax reforms or implementing important programmatic changes, and a constructive relationship between Ms. Hochul and Mr. Adams could result in real benefits.
New York State and New York City have proven their resiliency time and again. A transition to a new leadership, while challenging, does not diminish our confidence in the state’s or city’s credits.
In New York, as with all of our state and local bonds, we continue to focus on credit issues that have a broad revenue base and strong legal pledge, such as New York State general obligation, personal income tax and sales tax bonds, as well as essential purpose revenue systems such as water, sewer and public power issues. At the same time, we are more cautious and selective when it comes to sectors more severely impeded by the pandemic, such as transportation bonds and the healthcare sector.
Howard Cure is a Partner at Evercore Wealth Management and the Director of Municipal Bond Research. He can be contacted at cure@evercore.com.
Volume 43 of Independent Thinking® by Evercore Wealth Management explores how investors can navigate rising inflation, evolving tax landscapes, and ongoing market optimism.
The publication highlights the importance of diversification as a natural hedge against inflation, while also examining the effectiveness of various asset classes, such as equities, real estate, and commodities, under inflationary pressures. It addresses the impact of ESG investing on portfolios, the outlook for municipal bonds, and the need for proactive estate tax planning amid potential legislative changes. The issue further discusses purposeful wealth planning, including using non-charitable purpose trusts.
This issue emphasizes options to prepare portfolios and plans for both current opportunities and potential future challenges.
Investment and Wealth Management services are provided by Evercore Wealth Management, LLC an investment advisor registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940. Registration with the SEC does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Trust and custody services are provided by Evercore Trust Company, N.A. a national trust bank regulated by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.
Client retention rate is based on data from 06/30/24 – 06/30/25. Assets under management are as of 06/30/25
