James Ramage

BondUnderwriter wants retail municipal bond investors to have a more efficient way to learn about upcoming negotiated market deals from their issuers, so it designed its new centralized Web portal to consolidate publicly available information.

A massive jump in refundings pushed long-term municipal bond volume up significantly through the first half of 2012.

Municipal bond investors have varying reactions to the precipitous rise in yields over the past several weeks. On a relative basis, bond holders may rejoice in the fact that munis have outperformed Treasuries over the period.

Traders have started the week looking for direction in the municipal market as yields for tax-exempts and Treasuries appear to be hovering around levels reached Friday.

The municipal market should see an uptick in primary volume this week, led by a Texas auction of $9.8 billion Rans, meet a still-robust level of demand. Potential volume should total $6.79 billion, up from total sales of $4.77 billion last week.

Inflows to municipal bond mutual funds slipped this past week. But they remained hearty, at $964 million of inflows from weekly reporting funds.

Muni bond indexes rose on the week, reflecting a market that continues a lengthy, but welcome, backup from record low yields.

Individual investors like the higher payouts they have seen in long-term muni bond mutual funds, and so have been pouring more money into them in 2012 than they have in years.

A tired municipal market continues to drag through the week. Tax-exempt yields Wednesday morning look somewhat lighter beyond the front end of the curve, traders say, moving in tandem with Treasuries.

Investors in the municipal market are still looking for tax-exempt paper but face a subdued calendar for the week. Potential volume is expected to total $5.39 billion, led by California's $10 billion of revenue anticipation notes.

Throughout 2012, high-yield muni funds have seen some of the best total returns among bond funds, with consistent inflows. Still, some industry watchers warn of large risks for the sector.

The municipal market adopted a softer tone this week, reflected by higher indexes and triple-A yields.

Investors poured into muni bond mutual funds at a rate not seen in five months.

D.A. Davidson & Co. bulked up its municipal sales group with a new hire. The brokerage firm brought in Dan Greenwood as senior vice president, institutional sales, to join its municipal bond group. He will specialize in sales and marketing for new issuance, as well as in the secondary market.

The municipal market, sliding leisurely through its slow season, anticipates a slight uptick in issuance the week of Aug. 6. Industry estimates hold that muni bonds expected to be sold during the week should total $6.35 billion, versus a revised $5.93 billion last week. Then, the market waded through a sluggish week in the primary and secondary that did little to yields, which continue to hover near record lows.

Flows to municipal bond mutual funds fell this week, but they still remain positive. The market saw a sluggish week of mostly stagnant yields and mixed interest for product in the primary and secondary markets. Muni bond funds reported almost $504 million of inflows from funds that report their flows weekly for the week ended Aug. 1, according to Lipper FMI. They have seen inflows for 16 consecutive weeks.

A sluggish municipal market failed to gain any momentum this week. But although muni yields underperformed those of Treasuries, they only weakened by an incremental factor in the belly of the curve. They remain near record lows across the curve. Muni indexes were higher on the week beyond the short end of the curve, which reached its lowest point in the 23 years it has been tracked.

Municipal bond analysts are in demand. With triple-A yields diving into record low territory, fund managers are being forced to look harder to find yield.

Long-term municipal bond issuance for 2012 continues to outpace that of the previous year. But the once-yawning gap year-over-year has narrowed. Issuers floated just 7% more in total volume last month than they did in July 2011. That amounted to $26.6 billion on 836 issues in July 2012, against $24.9 billion on 757 deals over the same period last year.

The Triboro Bridge and Tunnel Authority of New York should bring a hefty deal to the municipal marketplace this week. Municipal market volume should climb this week, albeit barely, and from modest levels.