We are thrilled to embark on the next stage of our growth with the support of our new partners: Safeguard Scientifics, NextStage Capital, and Jim Ashton. We’d especially like to thank Phil Moyer, Managing Director at Safeguard Scientifics, for pushing this forward and getting this financing done.

Today is an exciting day in the history of Lumesis, but it’s just the beginning: we’ll be using the proceeds to make our current products even better and to launch products we’ve had in the hopper for a while. We’re hoping to make our investors as happy about today’s news as we are.

We know there is a long road ahead of us, but we’re proud to have taken a big step down that path.

We are expanding our team to help support our growth and development of our second product.

Please visit our website, www.lumesis.com, for more information.

We are currently looking for an administrative assistant. The full description is posted on Linkedin here. Please apply through the Linkedin site.

Lumesis is looking for smart, motivated and creative candidates to join our team. We deliver key data to a growing roster of clients that already includes some of the biggest names in the financial industry. Our products are used to track emerging risks in portfolios that run into the hundreds of billions of dollars. We build software that helps insurers and long-term investment managers make the right decisions for their clients. You’ll be helping us build new things in a fun, casual environment in our brand new offices on the waterfront in Stamford, CT.

We’re looking for both front and back end application developers with expertise in JavaScript, SQL languages, and/or PHP. If you fit one or more of these roles, reach out to us at inquiries AT lumesis dot com. Send a resume and, if possible, a link to a project you’ve worked on before so we can see some of your work. Only applicants under consideration will be contacted.

As with Harrisburg, the county’s fiscal problems predate the current economic downturn. As a result, we don’t think investors will punish the rest of the market on the news. Muni’s are actually up today on more bad news out of Europe.

More important than the fact of the filing is the way in which the negotiations broke down. The reports are that city government was unhappy with how hard creditors were pushing them. If true, this is really significant.

Historically, municipalities go to great lengths to avoid bankruptcy. Obviously, bankruptcy is never anyone’s first choice, but in the corporate world the stigma is hardly much of a restraint. As more chapter 9 cases work through the courts, however, the barriers to filing in the muni world will shrink.

In one article on the lack of help city governments have, Josh mentions that the bankruptcy will cause more sophisticated investors to discriminate between different issuers in the same State. This shift will increase the need for more granular research, and our belief in this trend is at the core of Lumesis.

Unfortunately, the game of telephone didn’t work perfectly at Reuters. Josh was also mentioned in this piece on Harrisburg. Unfortunately, he doesn’t actually believe you should be buying AAA GOs without discrimination. While we agree with the general sentiment that Harrisburg does not mean impending doom for the market, that type of casual, categorical recommendation is not how we look at credit and investing at Lumesis.

The market has been taking the long-anticipated announcement in stride: shares of Assured Guaranty, the city’s bond insurer, are up sharply today. HYD, Van Eck’s High Yield Muni Index, is down on the week, but not drastically.

We’ll be following the PA yield curve over the next few weeks: it will be interesting to see if investors no longer believe that the State will bail-out troubled municipalities any longer. My guess would be that this won’t have much impact: the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania has clearly been heavily involved with Harrisburg’s credit situation over the 18 months. The city council has acted as if they wanted to file over the past 4 months, so I don’t think most professional investors will react to this rashly.

More importantly, though, if the city comes out of bankruptcy substantially healthier than other Act 47 communities, the city may ‘de-stigmatize’ the bankruptcy process. There is no evidence that this has happened in the past, but given the near-universal strain on local budgets, there is potential for Harrisburg to meaningfully influence the actions of other communities in the long run.

Those that have overcome dependency of some kind have learned how to beat their dependency and, in many cases, avoid a relapse.  For a drug addict this can mean staying away from drugs and drug dealers.  Addicts know dealers care only about themselves and not about the buyer.  The dealers will say what they need to make the sale — not concerned about your tomorrow.

Stay with me.

To the extent you were dependent on Federal funds or the notion tax receipts would keep rising, many of you have kicked the habit.  Since the Great Recession started, you and your colleagues at State and local governments across the country have been forced to address budget gaps that have resulted from the economic realities you have faced and continue to face.  The Federal government did inject some funds through ARRA but that has come to an end.  The combination of these factors has required creative thinking and making some incredibly tough decisions that required shared sacrifice – unions have given back, taxes have gone up and spending has been cut.  The charts below highlight some of those tough decisions you all have made during fiscal year 2011 to close budget gaps.

FY 2011 Mid-Year Program Area Cuts, Number of States Implementing

Source: National Association of State Budget Officers, The Fiscal Survey of the States, Spring 2011

FY 2011 Strategies Used to Reduce or Eliminate Budget Gaps, Number of States Implementing

Source: National Association of State Budget Officers, The Fiscal Survey of the States, Spring 2011

Congratulations on taking steps necessary to respond to the economic realties and to continue to get your fiscal house in order.  Unfortunately, there is an opportunity to spend more than your economy can support and to undo – at least for a while – those tough decisions.

The dealers are back and offering a little something to make you feel good – recall laid-off teachers, first responders and others, modernize schools and extend unemployment insurance.  You can be the hero and it won’t cost a dime.  You get to deliver jobs and money to your constituents today and the promise of better education and schools for our children.  Compelling arguments indeed.  The cost, which we are told is paid for, is projected to be a mere $447 billion (add it to the work of the Super Committee that now needs to cut the federal budget by almost $1.8 trillion over 10 years).  Sounds good so far and all in the name of getting our economy back to work.

Next, those “rich” couples in your home area making more than $250,000 ($200,000 if they are single) should have tax deductions limited or eliminated.  Why not?  In these trying economic times, shared sacrifice is what it is all about.  Indeed, the charts above point out the tough decisions some of you have had to deploy to balance your budgets (operating that is).

At this point, the peddlers seem to make sense and you might be ready to buy.  Just say no!  You’ve kicked the habit and have been on the road to becoming responsible, productive members of our Union.  You recognized ARRA would come to an end and that money from DC, for whatever you might be getting it for, is not going to increase annually and, if the Super Committee does its job, will go down (whether taxes are raised or not).

There are consequences to consider, some of which might be near and dear to your fiscal purse strings and re-election efforts once the well runs dry.  Your cost of borrowing will likely go up.  It is no secret that the majority of municipal bond buyers are individuals – some 70% of municipal bonds make their way to the retail market.  That retail market is comprised of a large majority of people that will be considered “rich”.  Now, if those “rich” people lose some or all of their tax-free interest from municipal bonds they have three choices: (i) demand higher interest to offset the lost income (ii) find an alternative investment or (iii) accept it.  The first two points will lead to higher interest rates for any debt you issue, plain and simple.  Thus, your constituents will pay.

Let’s assume the Super Committee does its job.  Where will those savings come from and who will need to find ways to finance their State and local obligations and programs?  You guessed it.  And, irrespective of what the Super Committee does, if these “fixes” to our economy don’t work, you are right back where you started – making those tough choices yet again as opposed to continuing forward with the reforms you have already implemented.

Politics aside, this is about continuing the progress you have made.  It is not easy to quash your demons but you need to avoid the temptation.  One day at a time!

Gregg L. Bienstock is a Co-Founder of Lumesis, Inc.

Now DIVER users will have access to Assessed Values of Real and Personal Property on a county-by-county basis: we believe we are the only data provider to access this information across the nation.

The data set includes the most up-to-date information, allowing analysts to predict future property taxes with the highest possible level of accuracy. simply scrolling over each county shows the total assessed value of property (in millions of dollars). Bulk downloads of all counties in a portfolio are possible as well.

The city owes $3.3 million. Though the city has stopped making payments on debt related to its infamous incinerator project, the State of Pennsylvania has stepped in and ensured that payments were made on the GO debt. But now that cash has run out as well.

The State may intercede again, of course. The State has further tried to force better behavior by city management by removing the option of bankruptcy through new legislation two months ago. However, the city recently rejected a rehabilitation plan under Pennsylvania’s Act 47, the first time a municipality has done so. If I were a betting man, I’d guess that the most likely situation is a takeover of the city government by the State and a full payment to bondholders. However, there is the real possibility of a default without a bankruptcy filing.

How the non-bankruptcy default of a medium-sized-city plays out will be meaningful in the many states that do not allow municipal bankruptcies. A result that appears advantageous to the city may spark a series of changes in legislation around the country as States look to follow Rhode Island and make municipal bonds appear as safe as possible. We probably won’t find out if this happens soon, but as State budgets continue to be under pressure, expect more public discussions of how States should intervene in municipal financial crises.

Barclays Indices now available in DIVER

Barclays Municipal Index and Managed Money Municipal Index are part of the DIVER platform and will be updated nightly.

§  To access these indices, you must have a license with Barclays.

• If your firm already has a license, please let us know and we will activate your access to the indices.
• If your firm does not, please reach out to Barclays or Lumesis to learn how you can access Barclays indices

Continuing Disclosure Management Enhancement

Submitter and Issuer/Obligor, if identified by the submitter of the continuing disclosure filing, included in the email notice (see below for a sample)

Emails that only include files with “Archive” status have been eliminated to cut down on your receipt of email notifications

New Data

Assessed Values (Real and Personal Property) at the county level – in the “Taxes” category

Federal Funds Received by States and counties

§  Still to come – by top agencies and expenditure types

Federal Funds Received as a % of Revenue at the State level

Sample CDM Email

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