Buy side

Investors in the municipal market are starting to come to terms with higher yields for primary volume.

In a week that very well may have marked the end to five months of rallying for municipal bond yields, muni bond mutual funds still saw strong inflows.

Spring is definitely in the air on Wall Street, with a particularly sunny view toward equities. But for munis and Treasuries, with yields rising rapidly in the wake of a robust risk-on trade, the outlook has been much gloomier.

Unable to shed a downward trend that first began early last year, ownership of municipal bonds by households fell to the lowest level in two years as it continued to decline in the fourth quarter of 2011, according to quarterly data recently released by the Federal Reserve Board.

The municipal market needed this. That's the response some in the market had regarding last week's surge in new issuance and subsequent backup in yields.

The municipal market may be struggling to absorb the uptick in new supply, but muni bond mutual funds still saw their heaviest inflows since 2009.

The municipal market saw a surge in new-issue supply this week and weakening Treasuries that drove high-grades cheaper and gave tax-exempts a heavier tone.

Tax-exempt money market funds increased by $1.10 billion and saw their total net assets rise to $289.85 billion for the week ended March 5, according to the Money Fund Report, a service of iMoneyNet.com.

CHICAGO — The "national explosion of consolidation" across the health care sector differs in key ways from past trends, as providers face new, complex problems and new players have entered the game to craft merger models that include risks and benefits, Moody's Investors Service said in a report released Thursday.

WASHINGTON — The number of municipal securities that traded in 2011 remained largely unchanged from 2010 and the volume of trades of less than $100,000 rose during the period, suggesting that more retail investors may be buying and selling municipal bonds.

A new website that targets mom-and-pop investors of municipal bonds and promises to streamline their investing experience on the Web is set to launch this week.

S&P proposed a new rating methodology for local governments. The chief changes would be to increase the emphasis on numerical sub-ratings, formalize the role of a state's institutional framework, introduce weighting measures to emphasize the factors, and to formalize a flow pattern for the rating process.

The municipal market's calendar doesn't appear to be slowing down this week.

After a short-lived period of inflows, tax-exempt money market funds lost $1.93 billion and total net assets dipped to $288.75 billion in the week ended Feb. 27, according to the Money Fund Report, a service of iMoneyNet.com.

The municipal market traded sideways over much of the past week in the face of a large influx of new supply and hefty muni bond fund flows.

A spectre that periodically haunts the municipal bond market looms once again: the threat to alter the market's sacrosanct tax-exempt status.

The largest bond deal so far in 2012 will lead the way on the heftiest calendar yet this year.

The municipal market has had a mixed week of rising yields and noticeable demand for new supply.

Municipal bond mutual funds had another week of strong inflows amid the market's risk-on trade this past holiday-shortened week.

Tax-exempt money market funds recouped about half of last week’s losses when they added $1.2 billion of new cash and total net assets inched up to $290.69 billion in the week ended Feb. 20, according to the Money Fund Report, a service of iMoneyNet.com.