Buy side

Tax-exempt money market funds' inflows slowed to $819.6 million in the week ended June 17 after a $3.13 billion surge the week before, according to The Money Fund Report, a service of iMoneyNet.com.

Life insurance companies' interest in municipal bonds has grown dramatically over the past several years, as their holdings have more than tripled since 2007.

Households remained the biggest owners of municipal bonds in the first quarter of 2013 while mutual funds and U.S. chartered depository institutions increased their share of the $3.7 trillion market, quarterly data from the Federal Reserve Board showed.

Volume will inch higher this week as issuers are expected to bring an estimated $6.40 billion of new volume to the primary market led by sizable offerings that include a California health care offering, a New York water sale, and a Texas airport financing.

The amount of money investors have withdrawn from municipal bond mutual funds, at $1.61 billion for the week of June 12, continues to climb and break records for the year.

Citi strategists released a report saying they do not expect municipal bond yields to continue to climb, although the road to stabilization will not be smooth.

After weeks of either net outflows or only modest inflows, tax-exempt money market funds recaptured $3.13 billion of net gains as total net assets grew to $260.97 billion in the week ended June 10, according to The Money Fund Report, a service of iMoneyNet.com.

A difficult May in the municipal bond market has put investors on the defensive.

Roberto Roffo, a 20-year asset management veteran, has joined Advisors Asset Management as a senior vice president and portfolio manager as the firm plans to enhance its tax-exempt management initiatives.

Slowly rising Treasury yields and modest activity are pulling muni yields higher as the day's trading session crossed the halfway point.

The municipal market had little momentum to propel it forward to start the week.

Investors pulled more money from municipal bond mutual funds than they have all year as funds that report flows weekly recorded outflows of $1.47 billion for the week ending June 5.

Muni money funds continue to struggle to recoup the billions they lost this year — particulary around income tax season — and the arrival this week of $411 million is not much of a boost.

Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management unveiled two exchange-traded funds Tuesday that are the first devoted entirely to infrastructure revenue bonds and regulated utilities.

Michael K. Farr, president of Farr, Miller & Washington, delivers a yield kick to his savvy retail clients via market inefficiencies in the secondary market to offset the lack of return in the plain-vanilla market.

Note season will get underway this week with a $1 billion sale of tax and revenue anticipation notes from Los Angeles County, while the commonwealth of Massachusetts will also sell $1 billion of general obligation debt amid more than $5 billion of expected new volume.

Issuance numbers for long-term municipal bonds in May continued to underwhelm market expectations, decreasing 28% for the month.

Muni bond mutual fund flows fell back into the red at $157 million, entering territory they occupied for most of the spring.

Outflows among tax-exempt money market funds continued to fluctuate in the week ended May 27 as $1.84 billion fled the industry and total net assets settled at $257.43 billion, according to The Money Fund Report, a service of iMoneyNet.com.

Academy Securities, an investment bank with a municipal business started by a retired naval officer, wants to put those who've served in the armed forces to work in the securities industry.