Markets

Most of The Bond Buyer's weekly yield indexes declined this week, as the municipal market was largely unchanged to slightly firmer through most sessions as investors returned to work from a long weekend.

Weekly reporting municipal bond mutual funds had a net inflow of $432 million during the period ending Aug. 27, AMG Data Services reported.

A Massachusetts general obligation offering and a $1.8 billion New Jersey tax and revenue anticipation note sale will compete for investors' attention as the first two largest deals to be priced as the market bids farewell to summer and gets back to business after the Labor Day hiatus.

CHICAGO -Capital spending is expected to remain heavy across the nonprofit health care sector amid mounting financial pressures and the fallout from the collapsed auction-rate securities market, according to a pair of reports released this week by Moody's Investors Service and Standard & Poor's.

Most of The Bond Buyer's weekly yield indexes rose this week, as municipals weakened in most of the week's sessions, which saw light activity ahead of a long weekend.

Tax-exempt money market funds suffered outflows of $7.81 billion and slipped below the previous week's record high asset growth during the week ending Aug. 25, according to the Money Fund Report, a service of iMoneyNet.com of Westborough, Mass.

The primary market will see a skimpy sampling of moderately sized deals this week as new-issue volume dips to $3.09 billion, according to Thomson Reuters, and the municipal market slows to a snail's pace in the last full week of trading activity before the Labor Day hiatus.

Weekly reporting municipal bond mutual funds had a net inflow of $338 million during the period ending Aug. 20, AMG Data Services reported.

Tax-free money market funds gained inflows of just $1.30 billion during the week ending Aug. 18, but that didn't stop the asset class from setting a record for total assets for the third week in a row, increasing to $528.36 billion, according to the Money Fund Report, a service of iMoneyNet.com of Westborough, Mass.

Nearly all The Bond Buyer's weekly yield indexes declined this week, as the municipal market was firmer in most of the week's sessions, and investors digested a healthy amount of new-issue supply.