James Ramage

London-based interdealer broker Tullett Prebon established a municipal bond presence in North America on Friday when it acquired New York-based municipal bond interdealer broker Chapdelaine & Co.

Municipal bond mutual fund inflows fell somewhat from last week's tremendous infusion, but they were still strongly in the black. Muni bond funds saw a sixth straight week of inflows, and a 10th week of them out of 11.

The municipal market has been gorging on a lot of new issuance over the past few weeks, but apparently not more than it can digest.

Investors this past week gave the tax-exempt market a big boost of confidence with their heaviest inflows to municipal bond mutual funds since September 2010.

The waves of issuance rolling into the municipal primary market the past few weeks continue to grow. Last week's volume, at more than $9 billion, approached record territory for 2011, and this week's anticipated issuance should easily set a new high for the year, at nearly $12 billion.

Municipal bonds saw a largely mixed week of trading in a tight range. Subsequently, so did muni bond indexes, which ranged from unchanged to up no more than five basis points on the week.

Retail reaction to the announcement late Wednesday that Jefferson County, Ala., filed the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history is likely to be muted, yet will still be closely monitored, portfolio managers say.

Retail reaction to the announcement late Wednesday that Jefferson County, Ala., filed the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history is likely to be muted, yet will still be closely monitored, portfolio managers say.

The three largest tobacco companies last week exempted 12 states and four territories from arbitration that would force the municipalities to refund money from 2003 settlement overpayments the companies believe they made.

The municipal market new-issuance machine should churn out slightly less volume for the primary this week. But it's still operating at a relatively high capacity, as far as 2011 has gone.

Investors are still confident about tax-exempts, but less so than in previous weeks. Still, municipal bond mutual funds saw a fourth straight week of inflows, and a eighth week out of nine.

Volatility in the municipal and Treasury markets has investors flummoxed at a time when an expected calendar-year record amount of issuance has flooded the primary. The Bond Buyer's weekly yield indexes all fell, though not as far as those of Treasuries.

Low interest rates have significantly colored the outlook industry veterans have for the municipal market.

The list of banks suing MBIA Inc. just got smaller.

Municipal issuance for October weighed in as the heaviest month for 2011 thus far, but it still sat 23.4% below the amount of new deals issued the same period in 2010.

November is starting off with a relatively strong week of new issuance in the municipal market, with two deals totaling at least $1 billion each. The amount of new deals continues to climb after a strong October.

Investor confidence in tax exempts continued this past week as municipal bond mutual funds saw a third straight week of inflows, and a seventh week out of eight.

The Bond Buyer's weekly yield indexes outperformed Treasuries during a week that saw middling investor interest in the primary market and a dramatic sell-off in Treasuries during the latter half of the week.

A credit rating agency wants borrowers to shine more light on a practice they've been using increasingly to issue debt.

The municipal market wrapped up the week on a slightly weaker note.