Buy side

Tax-exempt money market funds grew by $124.80 million — a slight improvement from the prior week — as total net assets settled at $272.46 billion in the week ended Aug. 20, according to The Money Fund Report.

BondUnderwriter wants retail municipal bond investors to have a more efficient way to learn about upcoming negotiated market deals from their issuers, so it designed its new centralized Web portal to consolidate publicly available information.

Encouraged by the recent market weakness, many retail investors are eagerly delving into the municipal market for new bonds or to reinvest any remaining rollover proceeds.

Municipal bond investors have varying reactions to the precipitous rise in yields over the past several weeks. On a relative basis, bond holders may rejoice in the fact that munis have outperformed Treasuries over the period.

A Florida law allowing local governments to declare a "financial urgency" can be an effective strategy for budget relief, says Fitch. Miami has used it several times.

Despite several turbulent years and the gloomy outlook for single-family housing bonds, municipal bond housing experts are optimistic about the future of housing finance agencies.

The municipal market should see an uptick in primary volume this week, led by a Texas auction of $9.8 billion Rans, meet a still-robust level of demand. Potential volume should total $6.79 billion, up from total sales of $4.77 billion last week.

Moody's Investors Service is considering across-the-board and targeted downgrades in California in the aftermath of the state's recent municipal bankruptcies.

Hedge fund Bridgewater Associates, with support from the state, will construct a new headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy announced.

After the arrival of last week's bounty, outflows of $1.61 billion left tax-exempt money market funds with $272.34 billion in total net assets for the week ended Aug. 13, according to the Money Fund Report, a service of iMoneyNet.com.

Inflows to municipal bond mutual funds slipped this past week. But they remained hearty, at $964 million of inflows from weekly reporting funds.

Standard & Poor's has a stable outlook on the municipal solid waste sector.

Individual investors like the higher payouts they have seen in long-term muni bond mutual funds, and so have been pouring more money into them in 2012 than they have in years.

Bond insurer Syncora Guarantee Inc. sued to challenge California measures dissolving local redevelopment agencies, saying they jeopardize bond payments and impair bondholder and insurer rights.

Standard & Poor's downgrade of the United States government a year ago earlier this month has had a wide but shallow impact on municipal bonds.

JPMorgan wants California's Peralta Community College District to make good on a type of refinancing that may now be illegal, according to a complaint filed Monday.

Throughout 2012, high-yield muni funds have seen some of the best total returns among bond funds, with consistent inflows. Still, some industry watchers warn of large risks for the sector.

Investors poured into muni bond mutual funds at a rate not seen in five months.

Morgan Stanley analysts point to several factors that can lead to municipal bankruptcies.

New York investment banker CastleOak Securities, L.P. has hired a co-head of municipal finance and two new fixed income sales professions.