Buy side

The tax-exempt market made gains in every session this week as buyers became more confident about participating in the market as the week progressed.

The Bond Buyer's weekly yield indexes declined the week ended September 12.

A bankruptcy judge confirmed American Airlines’ reorganization plan but its exit from Chapter 11 depends on resolution of the antitrust lawsuit against its merger with US Airways Group.

Nine states prevailed in arbitration with the tobacco companies in a dispute over the 1998 master tobacco settlement, providing a boost for those with outstanding tobacco bonds.

A new Standard & Poor's local methodology is expected to lead to changed ratings for 40% of issuers in a review that will start with the largest 48.

Tax-exempt money market funds saw $1.92 billion of net inflows in the week ended Sept. 9.

Bond insurer Syncora Guarantee, Inc. will appeal a recent decision by federal Judge Steven Rhodes in Detroit’s bankruptcy, marking the first appeal in the case.

Municipal managers are making last minute adjustments to their holdings in anticipation that the Federal Open Market Committee's meeting next week will mark the beginning of the end to the Federal Reserve's bond buying program.

A $495 million competitive sale of Arkansas general obligation bonds will lead primary market activity this week as long-term volume increases after last week’s holiday lull.

The municipal bond market took direction from secondary trades and Treasuries this week as a light new-issue calendar took a back seat.

Outflows from municipal bond mutual funds continued into a 15th straight week, with withdrawals in the period ended Sept. 4 amounting to $1.31 billion, according to Lipper FMI data.

The Bond Buyer's weekly yield indexes continued to climb the week ended September 5.

Outflows curtailed the growth of tax-exempt money market funds for a second week in a row as $2.18 billion exited the industry and total net assets fell to $267.71 billion in the week ended Sept. 2, according to The Money Fund Report, a service of iMoneyNet.com.

There is undoubtedly considerable waste from inefficient advance refundings, but let's not throw out opportunities to save taxpayers' money, when warranted, by giving credence to half-baked theories based on shoddy scholarship, says Andrew Kalotay.

Citi has entered into a new partnership with TMC to offer its negotiated new-issue municipal bonds to dealers in the retail fixed-income trading system's network.

A federal judge sided with American Airlines in agreeing to set a November trial date for the federal government's civil antitrust lawsuit against the airline's merger with US Airways Group.

Investors returning from the Labor Day holiday will be met with slim pickings in the primary market this week as long-term volume is expected to drop to just over $1.50 billion this week, led by the pricing of two higher education financings on Wednesday.

The plunge in long-term municipal bond volume for 2013 continued as issuers in August floated 37.7% less than they did over the same period in 2012, the latest sign that rising interest rates are curbing issuer demand.

The Bond Buyer's weekly yield indexes continued to climb the week ended August 29.

Municipal bond mutual funds got a reprieve after three weeks of increasingly large outflows, with just $1.74 billion withdrawals in the week ended Aug. 28, according to Lipper FMI numbers.