Buy side

A bankruptcy Court judge said he expects to rule by Wednesday on American Airlines' request for final clearance to merge with US Airways Group Inc. and exit Chapter 11.

Muni investors will have to save their appetites for the Thanksgiving Day feast, as volume in the primary market will be unusually thin in the holiday shortened week.

Richard Ciccarone — a prominent voice for buyside municipal research — will retire from his post as chief research officer at McDonnell Investment Management LLC to devote more time to expand his Merritt Research database and -he hopes — to carve out more leisure time in his day.

Municipal bond mutual funds recorded outflows for the 26th straight week, at $770 million, numbers from Lipper FMI showed.

The weekly average yield to maturity of the Bond Buyer Municipal Bond Index, which is based on 40 long-term bond prices, decreased three basis points this week, to 5.08% for the week ending Nov. 21, 2013, but it remains above its 5.07% average from two weeks ago.

The total net assets of tax-exempt money market funds continued to see-saw as they inched up by $561.5 million to $263.82 billion in the week ended Nov. 18, according to The Money Fund Report, a service of iMoneyNet.com.

Standard & Poor's upgraded the rating on California's economic recovery bonds to AA from A-plus, with a stable outlook.

Long-term muni funds are having their worst year since 2008, as rising interest rates and headlines about Detroit's bankruptcy filing and Puerto Rico's fiscal problems fueled outflows of investor money.

Detroit has not reallocated payments for its unlimited-tax general obligation bonds because those bonds are tied up in federal mediation talks, the city said Monday.

American Airlines will ask a bankruptcy court to approve an agreement with federal regulators that settles the government's antitrust lawsuit against American's proposed merger with US Airways Group Inc.

The $1.8 billion Jefferson County, Ala. Sewer warrant deal raised eyebrows on Friday when it thundered into the market for the first day of its retail order period where yields on some of the subordinated debt were offered at close to 8%.

The tax-exempt market ended firmer for the week as investors put in more orders for bonds than were available on deals in the primary market. The secondary was firmer as the week progressed with dealers unloading balances from deals to customers at higher prices.

As Jefferson County, Ala., began to sell sewer warrants on Friday, analysts said they remained concerned about the rate increases needed to repay the debt.

Bill de Blasio's budget proposal about a month into his tenure could provide a window to investors anxious to see how New York's new mayor will handle finances.

The Puerto Rico Treasury is taking a variety of steps to crack down on tax evasion, including hiring 195 professionals to crack down on the practice.

The Bond Buyer's weekly yield indexes rose the week ended Nov. 14.

Investor demand for municipal bond mutual funds remained sluggish for a 25th straight week, with outflows of $903 million for the week of Nov. 13.

Fitch Ratings placed the BBB-minus rating of Puerto Rico's general obligation bonds on rating watch negative, citing in part concerns about market access.

The proposed merger of US Airways Group and American Airlines could be bad news for smaller airports as the combo unit gives up gates at major hubs, Moody's says.

The total net assets of tax-exempt money market funds declined by $1.32 billion to $263.26 billion in the week ended Nov. 11, as they gave up most of the prior week's gains.