Buy side

Moody's Investors Service has a negative outlook on local governments, which continue to be pressured in the slow and uneven economic recovery.

Tax exempt money market funds decreased $1.88 billion and total net assets settled at $278.20 billion in the week ended Feb. 18.

Philip Fischer's career starts and ends with numbers. It's led to public finance and Merrill Lynch, where he ascended to the head of muni bond research. It continues today at eBooleant Consulting and with the release of his book, "Investing in Municipal Bonds: How to Balance Risk and Reward for Success in Today's Bond Market" in January.

In the State of the Union Address, President Obama laid out a plan for stronger regulation of colleges and universities, which Moody's Investors Service calls a credit negative in the near term.

A pair of large water deals will flood the primary market with nearly $1 billion this week as part of more than $6 billion in total new volume that is expected to be priced on the heels of last week's market firmness.

Amidst concerns among market participants of a 'great rotation' out of fixed income into equities, Barclays strategists released a report Thursday assessing whether this might happen in the muni market.

Municipal buyers gave their blessing to bankrupt AMR Corp. and US Airways Group Inc.'s $11 billion marriage by ascribing near to full value to American's unsecured tax-exempt debt traded Thursday.

The municipal bond market recorded a solid week of inflows to mutual funds, at $490 million, breaking a four-week string of dwindling demand.

All The Bond Buyer's weekly yield indexes increased the week ended Feb. 14.

Moody's Investors Service gave the states a negative outlook for the sixth consecutive year, noting employment and tax revenue growth are still uneven.

Tax-exempt money market funds suffered losses for the fifth consecutive week as $2.40 billion escaped the industry in the week ended Feb. 11 and total net assets finished with $280.07 billion, according to The Money Fund Report, a service of iMoneyNet.com.

In a report, Moody's Investors Service outlined the risks associated with bank support agreements to which some municipal issuers are exposed.

New issuance will continue to dwindle further this week -- increasing the already-hearty demand and keeping municipal yields steady to lower -- as an estimated $4.39 billion in competitive and negotiated volume is expected to arrive in the primary market, according to The Bond Buyer and Ipreo LLC.

The steady but flat volume of note offerings that carried over into 2012 from the previous year was largely sustained by a shift in issuance patterns among municipalities.

A rising tide of municipal bond volume did not raise all bond sectors in 2012.

A dramatic increase in refundings, particularly in the first half of 2012, boosted volume for long-term municipal bonds by 31% last year from one year earlier.

Municipal coffers are recovering, but many bond investors still favor revenue bonds, particularly the essential purpose variety, over their general obligation brethren.

Nearly all The Bond Buyer's weekly yield indexes increased the week ended Feb. 7.

Inflows to municipal bond mutual funds are shrinking, though they remained positive for a fifth straight week, as they recorded $109 million in inflows for the week of Feb. 6.

Massachusetts' pension fund returned nearly 14% in 2012 and exceeded its benchmark by 84 basis points, its board reported.