Hillary Flynn

Municipal bond fund inflows rose after declining for three straight weeks.

The weekly average yield to maturity of the Bond Buyer Municipal Bond Index, which is based on 40 long-term bond prices, rose three basis points the week ending Nov. 6 to 4.38%.

Municipal bonds weakened Thursday amid investor concern that a report on employment scheduled to be released on Friday morning may worsen the selloff.

Health and Higher Education Authorities' bonds are dominating both the primary and the secondary muni markets Thursday morning.

The largest deal of the week, the $850 million New York City Transitional Finance Authority may be complete, but the primary is still packed with a good amount of issuance scheduled for Thursday. Competitive deals are dominating the space, led by the$ 821.9 million Montgomery County, Md., general obligation issuance, but investors will have plenty to choose from.

The New York City Transitional Finance Authority’s $850 million deal was oversubscribed in institutional pricing after two days of retail order that traders described as “rough.”

Republican Bruce Rauner’s defeat of Illinois Governor Pat Quinn in Tuesday’s election is a positive for Illinois credits investors said, though it will be awhile before bondholders reap any benefits.

Municipal bond traders are focused on the New York City Transitional Financing deals' institutional pricing Wednesday, even as they look ahead to Friday's employment situation report. Otherwise there are some large higher education and health deals which may provide some yield.

Investors found the $100 million Cerritos Community College bonds one of the more attractive deals of the day, saying community colleges in general are strong credits because their attendance has held up amid an decline for higher education institutions in general.

Yields were raised on the $700 million New York City Transitional Finance Authority future tax secured subordinate bonds as the municipal market continued to sell-off on Tuesday, and traders are conflicted over whether or not this means retail is interested in the bonds.

Taxables are set to dominate the primary on Tuesday, and yield-hungry investors must be thanking the muni market's higher powers that are providing them with a plethora of choices.

The $700 million New York City Transitional Finance Authority bonds priced for retail on Monday have attractive spreads on the long end, but the short might be too aggressive to interest investors, traders said.

JP Morgan allowed public finance investor and issuer clients to attend its 2014 Public Finance Women's Forum last Thursday instead of limiting it to its own employees.

Trading on bonds from the $211.3 million Anchorage, Alaska, general obligation deal priced last week spiked on Monday morning in the secondary, as the secondary weakened overall.

October's volume of $34 billion came in 17.7% higher than a year earlier, the third month in a row issuance was greater than at the same time in 2013, according to Thomson Reuters data.

Inflows for all municipal bond funds fell for their third straight week this week.

Taxable bonds are holding investors interest in the primary and secondary markets on Tuesday, as the taxable $350 million California Earthquake Authority revenue bonds were priced.

Daniel Keating, a 35-year veteran of the municipal bond market and former Bear Stearns & Co. executive, joins insurer Build America Mutual as senior managing director for municipal bond markets starting Monday.

Analysts are divided over whether the municipal market sell-off this week has made triple-B paper more attractive to buy.

Inflows for all municipal bond funds declined by 90.8% as investors pulled money out of long term and high yield funds.