Markets

Fitch Ratings expects municipal defaults to remain isolated events, according to a report the rating agency plans to release today.

Standard & Poor’s knocked almost half the tobacco bond universe down to junk on Thursday as it surmised many of these structures would not be able to withstand a severe cutback in smoking.

Cash-strapped California is poised to dominate the municipal arena this week with two separate offerings that account for 85% of the estimated $14.11 billion in new volume expected in the long-term market, according to Ipreo LLC and The Bond Buyer.

Retail demand for municipal bond mutual funds remained languid last week during one the toughest periods for state and local government debt this year.

Many investors think the expiration of the Build America Bond program would actually be good for existing BABs because the entire universe of taxable bond buyers will be fighting over a finite and relatively small pool of available debt.

Nearly all The Bond Buyer’s weekly yield indexes increased considerably throughout this holiday-shortened week as supply pressure weighed heavily on long-term munis.

Tax-exempt money market funds posted only modest gains this week, increasing by $718.2 million and ending with $327.09 billion in total net assets, but that halted a month-long streak of outflows in the week ending Nov. 8, according to the Money Fund Report, a service of iMoneyNet.com.

J.P. Morgan Asset Management hired two people as part of an effort to expand the firm’s municipal strategies team.

State and local governments generally will be able to take steps to address the economic turbulence they face without filing for bankruptcy or defaulting on their debt, Standard & Poor's said in a pair of reports released Monday.