Markets

The spread between MCDX's Series 22 and Series 21 presents investors with another way to short Puerto Rico and the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority bonds.

To grow and expand its platform of services, retirement and financial services provider TIAA-CREF has acquired Nuveen Investments in a $6.25 billion transaction expected to be completed by the end of 2014.

With volume expected to return to its recent paltry levels this week, the municipal market will look to a $321 million sale of North Carolina general obligation bonds for direction.

Municipal funds reported the biggest inflows in seven weeks, as interest rate concerns faded and investors sought high yields.

The Bond Buyer's muni bond indexes strengthened in the week ending April 3, as Treasury yields declined.

Tax-exempt money market funds increased total net assets by $1.58 billion to $270.38 billion in the week ended April 7, reversing recent weeks’ outflows, according to The Money Fund Report, a service of iMoneyNet.com.

Municipal fund flows rebounded the week ending April 9, as funds reported the largest amount of inflows since the start of 2014.

Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. launched a fund designed to avoid risk, protecting investors’ capital by focusing on high-grade intermediate maturities.

While Detroit and Puerto Rico make the headlines, a cautious and conservative approach is the best bet, according to two municipal bond portfolio managers, whose strategies are representative of about three-quarters of municipal fund managers.

An uptick in volume this week will bring a handful of sizable deals to the primary market, but won't be enough to relieve the supply shortage that has prevailed so far in 2014, municipal traders said.