Buy side

An uptick in negotiated offerings will do little to alleviate the drought in the long-term primary arena this week, as just over $3 billion is expected to arrive. Most attention will focus on a single $2.8 billion financing in the short-term market.

Some municipal fund managers are finding it's possible to use the secondary market to help determine fair bond pricing after a drop in new issuance has limited their reliance on the primary market as a benchmark.

Inflows or all municipal all municipal bond funds moderately declined during the municipal bond sell-off the week ending September 3rd.

The Bond Buyer's weekly yield indexes were mixed for the week ending Sept 4.

The holiday shortened week's volume will drop to just over half of last week's issuance, led by a $350 million Texas school offering.

The municipal market should benefit from the Securities and Exchange Commission's prosecution of Kansas for inadequate disclosure of faltering pension obligations, according to Moody's Investors Service.

Inflows for all municipal bond funds held steady as the Labor Day holiday week approached.

The Bond Buyer's weekly yield indexes declined for the week ending Aug. 28.

Unrated Irvine, Calif., dirt bonds were oversubscribed by five to eight times when they priced in early August amid overall yield compression.

The changing demographics of prospective students may present an opening for higher education institutions to attract more students and strengthen their revenue stream, according to analysts.

An expected swell in the volume of current refundings in the fourth quarter will be a welcome arrival even if it doesn't cure the market's prolonged imbalance, analysts say.

The Kroll Bond Ratings Agency assigned its AA rating to Los Angeles' general obligation bonds Tuesday, its first rating of the city.

As the end of summer approaches and supply continues to dwindle, weekly volume in the municipal market is expected to sink to $2.53 billion, the lowest level in almost six months. A $480 million offering from the Virginia Public Building Authority is the largest deal on the new-issue calendar this week.

A recent Moody's downgrade of the Philadelphia School District to Ba3 was another indication of the district's growing financial problems, but a state intercept program insulates holders of the district's $3.1 billion in bonds from those troubles.

The terms of a loan turned the outlook on Florida Gulf Coast University's debt to negative, and could result in a rating downgrade of two notches, Standard & Poor's said.

Fitch Ratings said Detroit's offer to holders of $5.2 billion of water and sewer bonds to tender their debt as part of a bankruptcy settlement does not constitute a distressed debt exchange, an analysis that could bode well for ratings the planned refinancing of the debt.

Moody's Investors Service on Tuesday withdrew its general obligation bond rating on Tehachapi Valley Healthcare District, Calif. citing a lack of financial information for fiscal 2013, affecting $63 million in debt.

California's new law to require issuers to disclose bank loans will likely result in lower borrowing costs, according to a report from Municipal Market Advisors.

Volume will slip from last week, remaining lighter than usual, as an estimated $4.2 billion makes its way to market.

The Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority put off a day of reckoning in an agreement with creditors announced Thursday, but still may be headed for what would be the largest municipal bond default in U.S. history.