Markets

Natixis Global Asset Management, S.A. today acquired fixed-income asset manager McDonnell Investment Management, LLC.

The municipal bond market can expect issuance to come in on par with what the market has seen in recent weeks and market participants expect demand to continue to outweigh supply.

The New York Superintendent of Financial Services has filed a rehabilitation plan for bond insurer Financial Guaranty Insurance Company that will initially pay 15% on policy claims.

Investors' attitudes towards premium bonds have changed. They realize that they are at the bottom of the interest-rate cycle and facing a potentially volatile period in the markets. So they are adopting a defensive stance with the muni bonds they are buying.

Tax-exempt money market funds generated new cash as $1.50 billion of inflows boosted total net assets to $269.91 billion in the week ended Oct. 8, according to The Money Fund Report, a service of iMoneyNet.com.

Standard & Poor's expects slightly negative economic conditions for state and local governments in 2013.

Estimates for municipal bond volume are expected to ratchet up this week. An anticipated $8.26 billion in long-term bonds should reach the market, versus a revised $7.54 billion last week.

Moody's Investors Service is retaining its negative credit outlook on local governments.

Recent declines in graduate school enrollment numbers are a credit negative for the higher education sector, Moody's Investors Service said in a recent report.