Markets

The Bond Buyer’s weekly yield indexes were mixed this week, as the municipal market meandered in both directions at times, leaving the market at roughly the same levels from a week ago.

With all the hullabaloo over California’s budget crisis, one might get the impression things in the other 49 states are going swimmingly.

A week after posting the fourth heaviest outflows of the year, tax-exempt money market funds declined by $4.48 billion and finished the week of July 20 with total net assets of $450.32 billion, according to the Money Fund Report, a service of iMoneyNet.com.

WASHINGTON - Rep. Bob Etheridge, D-N.C., today will urge Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner to quickly issue guidance on qualified school construction bonds, specifically how to strip and sell the bonds' tax credit in the secondary market.

Municipalities plan a moderate slate of new deals this week during the seasonally slow summer period.

Municipal bond mutual funds continue to bore into uncharted territory at an unprecedented speed.

The Bond Buyer’s weekly yield indexes declined this week, as strength during the early stages of the week held off weakness permeating the market during the last few sessions.

Investors last week withdrew the most cash from municipal bond money-market funds since April as minuscule returns continued to chase unparalleled sums of money out of the industry.

Municipalities borrowing short term are increasingly taking on "refinancing risk" - a risk that used to fall on the investor, according to a Fitch Ratings report released yesterday.

Municipal bond sales are set to pick up this week following an unusually light slate of offerings last week.