Markets

The municipal market didn't need to do a lot to have a decent week.

As the end of the year nears, tax-exempt money market fund flows are back in positive territory thanks to modest inflows of $643.2 million in the week ended Dec. 19, increasing total net assets slightly to $290.43 billion, according to the Money Fund Report, a service of iMoneyNet.com.

New issuance in Muni Land kicks into holiday mode this week.

For the third consecutive quarter, households continued to shed some of the municipal bonds they own, while the total volume of outstanding muni debt also declined slightly compared to the previous three months, according to new data from the Federal Reserve Board.

Investors don't see too many avenues for yield in the financial markets these days. But municipal bond mutual funds must still look attractive to them, because they continued to pour money into them for a second straight week.

Municipal bond yields are so far capping an interesting year with a fine run to the holiday season.

After tax-exempt money market funds last week experienced their largest weekly inflows year to date, seeing a one-week increase of 1.9%, assets this week fell by $157.4 million and settled at $289.78 billion for the week ended Dec. 12, according to the Money Fund Report, a service of iMoneyNet.com.