Buy side

Municipal bond volume won’t make much of a comeback in the first full week after Labor Day as issuers await a decision on interest rates at the Sept. 16 and 17 Federal Open Market Committee meeting.

The Affordable Care Act is helping lift the non-profit health care sector out of its years-long torpor, according to Standard & Poor’s, which revised its outlook on the sector to stable from negative.

Municipal bond funds again saw outflows in the latest week, according to Lipper data released on Thursday. Weekly reporting funds experienced $95.986 million of outflows in the week ended Sept. 9, after seeing outflows of $586.481 million in the previous week, Lipper reported.

In the week ended Sept. 10, the weekly average yield to maturity of the Bond Buyer Municipal Bond Index was up two basis points to 4.44% from 4.42% in the previous week. The BB40 Index is based on the price of 40 long-term bonds.

Fitch Ratings released a draft on Thursday detailing changes to its U.S. tax-supported bond rating criteria. The rating agency said it expects less than 10% of the ratings covered would be affected.

According to Ipreo LLC and The Bond Buyer, municipalities will sell an estimated $3.70 billion of total new volume, compared to the revised $3.32 billion that was priced in the past week as reported by Thomson Reuters.

Immediate threats to Pennsylvania bondholders are minimal despite a two-month state budget stalemate, said Moody’s Investors Service.

Municipal bond funds saw outflows in the latest week, according to Lipper data released on Thursday. Funds which report weekly saw $586.481 million of outflows in the week ended Sept. 2, after seeing outflows of $344.563 million in the previous week, Lipper reported.

The weekly average yield to maturity of The Bond Buyer Municipal Bond Index, which is based on 40 long-term bond prices, increased two basis points to 4.42% for the week ended Sept. 3 from 4.40% in the previous week.

The pair of new funds will invest in municipal bonds — principally in high quality obligations — that offer federal tax exemption.

Solutions to the public pension funding crisis go beyond numbers crunching, said Manhattan Institute pension expert Daniel DiSalvo.

U.S. toll roads rated by Moody's Investors Service improved their finances in fiscal year 2014, the rating agency said.

Hillview, Ky.'s bankruptcy filing offers more evidence that municipalities increasingly consider filing for reorganization as a way to cure balance-sheet problems, according to Moody's Investors Service.

Municipal volume is forecast to plunge to the lowest in six months as end-of-summer holidays approach.

The Detroit suburb of Allen Park wants bondholders to sell back at par $31 million of bonds floated for a now-failed film studio that the city blames for a long financial decline.

Detroit snagged investment-grade ratings from Moody's Investors Service on its senior-lien water and sewer debt for the first time since before the city filed for bankruptcy.

Municipal bond funds saw cash redemptions in the latest week, according to Lipper data released on Thursday. Funds which report weekly saw $344.563 million of outflows in the week ended Aug. 26, after seeing inflows of $43.656 million in the previous week, Lipper reported.

In the week ended Aug. 27, the weekly average yield to maturity of the Bond Buyer Municipal Bond Index was unchanged from 4.40% in the previous week. The BB40 Index is based on the price of 40 long-term bonds.

Hillview, Ky., filed for bankruptcy to stop interest accruing on an $11.4 million adverse judgment and will pay its $3.2 million of bond debt, said City Attorney Tammy Baker.

Moody's revised its outlook on the nonprofit health care sector to stable from negative, where it has been since 2008, citing significant gains in several key areas.