Markets

Ahead of the April 15 income tax deadline this week, tax-exempt money market funds suffered outflows to the tune of $2.85 billion for the week ending April 14, according to the Money Fund Report, a service of imoneynet.com.

Nearly two dozen tax-exempt mutual funds were among those in the industry that received accolades for stellar historical performance by Lipper at its 2008 awards ceremony last week in New York City.

Weekly reporting municipal bond mutual funds had a net inflow of $345 million during the period ending April 9, AMG Data Services reported.

Although the largest new deal this week is $2 billion of taxable general obligation bonds from Connecticut, the calendar is also chock full of sizable new tax-exempt deals as the market makes room for an estimated $8.5 billion of competitive and negotiated volume.

The Bond Buyer's weekly yield indexes declined this week as a firmer tone persisted throughout the week, and yields in the municipal market dropped in nearly all the week's sessions.

For the first time ever, weekly assets of tax-free money market funds surpassed $500 billion as they soared to $504.8 billion for the week ending April 7, according to the Money Fund Report, a service of imoneynet.com.

Faced with one of the worst quarters for total return in the last five years, mutual fund managers said yield-curve positioning, proper credit selection, and risk aversion in the first quarter of 2008 were key to achieving top rankings - even as the universe of tax-exempt mutual funds totaling $131.7 billion was plagued by a negative 1.89% cumulative results for the three-month period ending Mar. 31, according to new data from Lipper Inc.

Weekly reporting municipal bond mutual funds had a net inflow of $333 million during the period ending April 2, AMG Data Services reported.

A billion-dollar deal in the Far West region and a bevy of new deals in the Northeast will lead this week's primary market calendar, which includes $6.68 billion of new volume compared with a revised $8.01 billion last week.

All The Bond Buyer's weekly yield indexes declined this week, as gains outweighed losses.