Markets

Muni market strategist Christopher Holmes has departed JPMorgan to join Moody's Investors Service.

The municipal market can expect $1.3 billion of new issuance for this holiday-shortened week, down dramatically from last week’s revised $8.1 billion.

Just as a strong rally in Treasuries helped make munis look good in the first three weeks of June, so too did a major sell-off in the month's final week make tax-exempts appear weak.

In the event that Moody's Investors Service strips the U.S. sovereign credit of its gilt-edged rating, top-rated state and local governments would be more at risk of a downgrade than similarly rated corporate or structured finance products.

On the heels of modest outflows last week, tax-exempt money market funds lost $4.66 billion and settled with $302.07 billion in total net assets for the week ended June 27, according to the Money Fund Report, a service of iMoneyNet.com.

The Navajo Nation is quietly planning to access the capital markets for the first time in its history within the coming six months.

Investors unhappy with low yields but not convinced of the merit in buying lower-graded muni credits to retain cash flow might be more attracted to another simple strategy: buy longer ­paper.

Investors put municipal bond mutual fund flows back in the black this past week. High-yield muni funds continued their strong performance.

The municipal bond market will see $5.6 billion of new issuance this week, with two $1 billion dollar deals topping the charts. Issuance is down from last week's revised $5.8 billion, according to Thomson Reuters.