Markets

Advisors Asset Management Inc. hopes to reshape the landscape for municipal bond unit investment trusts with a series of bigger, lower-cost UITs.

Growth in the municipal bond market slowed in the third quarter as financial market turmoil increased, issuers sold less debt, and retail investors pared down their holdings.

In the last full trading week before the municipal market slows for its usual holiday pause, uncertainty continues due to the status of Illinois' $1.4 billion general obligation certificates sale - with few other new deals on tap to fill the void amid overall market weakness and volatility.

The forced selling plaguing municipal bonds has distorted some segments of the market into bizarre contortions.

Clients withdrew cash from municipal bond mutual funds last week at a clip not seen since October.

Nearly all The Bond Buyer's weekly yield indexes rose again this week, as tax-exempt yields continued to rise in all the week's sessions.

The assets of tax-exempt money market funds inched up by $1.34 billion for the week ending Dec. 8, causing total assets to grow slightly to $494.92 billion for the period, according to the Money Fund Report, a service of iMoneynet.com of Westborough, Mass.

With the end of 2008 just a few weeks away and 30-day visible supply hovering around $17 billion, only a handful of issuers are expected to make their way to the primary market this week.

Money continued to drain out of municipal bond mutual funds last week - albeit at a slower pace - as the financial crisis continued, chasing capital into safe havens.

Nearly all The Bond Buyer's weekly yield indexes climbed this week, as tax-exempt yields grew weaker in all the week's sessions.