Markets

Weekly reporting municipal bond mutual funds had a net inflow of $461 million during the period ending June 25, AMG Data Services reported.

As the municipal market closes the book on the first half of 2008 and prepares for the start of the summer reinvestment season tomorrow, activity in the primary market will slow as underwriters, investors, and issuers cut the week short ahead of Friday's July 4th holiday.

Most of The Bond Buyer's weekly yield indexes rose last week, as municipal bonds cheapened significantly compared to Treasuries.

Outflows to the tune of $3.81 billion caused tax-exempt money market funds to end the week of June 23 with $513.65 billion, according to the Money Fund Report, a service of iMoneyNet.com of Westborough, Mass.

The ongoing credit crunch is starting to hit mutual funds, according to a recent review by Standard & Poor's that revised credit quality ratings on eight tax-exempt mutual funds.

Broker-dealers ended the first quarter of 2008 with 31.7% more in municipal debt on their books than they had at the end of 2007, according to Federal Reserve flow of funds data that is likely due to the freeze in the auction-rate securities market.

Weekly reporting municipal bond mutual funds had a net inflow of $374 million during the period ending June 18, AMG Data Services reported.

A $1.5 billion California general obligation sale and a trio of mammoth note deals will headline this week's activity in the primary market amid an estimated $6.46 billion in new-issue volume. Last week, the market welcomed a revised $7.28 billion, according to Thomson Reuters.

Most of The Bond Buyer's weekly yield indexes rose this week, as a number of large issues weighed on the market.

Tax-exempt money market funds managed to continue their upward growth for the week ending June 16, though they saw significantly lower inflows than last week, according to the Money Fund Report, a service of iMoneyNet.com of Westborough, Conn.