Markets

Aside from an $800 million New York City general obligation refunding planned for Wednesday, there will be few large deals to grab investors' attention in the municipal market this week as approximately $5 billion in new issuance is expected on the heels of a quiet end to last week's activity.

Stronger inflows made their way into municipal bond mutual funds, at $306 million for the week of May 15.

The Bond Buyer's weekly yield indexes were again mixed the week ended May 16.

Tax-exempt money market funds had a hard time holding onto what little inflows they regained last week as $1.72 billion exited the industry and total net assets settled at $258.36 billion in the week ended May 13, according to The Money Fund Report, a service of iMoneyNet.com.

For Bill Walsh, there isn't much room in a retail investor's muni bond portfolio for volatility or variability. That's why the 33-year municipal market veteran and president of Hennion & Walsh prefers high-quality paper and low risk for his pre-retiree clients, as well as personalized portfolio planning that is tied to clients' life goals and objectives.

New deals have arrived, but the tenor the municipal market has taken on has moved toward one of higher yields.

The municipal market is waiting for the week's primary issuance to arrive Tuesday and set a tone for yields.

As this year's note season ramps up, market participants expect strong demand and steady levels of issuance with last year's seasonal total of almost $39 billion.