Buy side

Municipal bond sales are expected to be slightly lower during this holiday-shortened Columbus Day week, with an estimated $8.32 billion of new volume hitting the market, according to Ipreo LLC and The Bond Buyer. Last week, $8.42 billion of bonds came to market, according to Thomson Reuters.

Weekly reporting municipal bond mutual funds had a net inflow of $1.702 billion during the week ending Oct. 7, Lipper FMI reported.

Life has gotten easier for municipal bond exchange-traded funds.

Tax-exempt money market funds generated inflows of $643.2 million and finished the week of Oct. 5 with $423.649 billion in total assets, according to the Money Fund Report, a service of iMoneyNet.com.

Most of The Bond Buyer’s weekly yield indexes rose this week, as several weeks of permeating market firmness began to reverse and some weakness appeared.

Banks ramped up purchases of municipal bonds in the first half of the year in the wake of federal legislation designed to stimulate banks’ interest in state and local government debt.

Municipal closed-end funds notched another stellar month in September as investors continued to flock to the sector’s fat tax-exempt yields.

The tide of money washing over municipal bond mutual funds eased up a touch last week.

The California municipal market is gearing up for a week of brisk activity as the state plans to sell $4.5 billion of general obligation debt — including Build America Bonds — while two other issuers ready sizable offerings.

Two of The Bond Buyer’s weekly yield indexes declined to 40-year lows this week as yields dropped slightly in all the week’s sessions.

After experiencing a one-week decline of $5.90 billion, tax-exempt money market funds ended the week of Sept. 28 with $423.01 billion in total assets as the market prepared to close the books on the third quarter, according to the Money Fund Report, a service of iMoneyNet.com.

Dwindling yields on municipal bonds have done nothing to deter investors from continuing to sock away unparalleled sums of cash into municipal bond mutual funds.

The official start of the fourth quarter will be marked by some brisk new-issue activity this week as several large financings - led by two significantly sized Build America Bond deals in California and New York - come to market.

The Bond Buyer’s weekly yield indexes again fell this week, extending a string of declines seen over several weeks and recording an all-time low on the one-year index.

Invesco Powershares is preparing to launch an exchange-traded fund linked to Build America Bonds, fusing two of the hottest ideas in public finance.

It is now prohibited for the New York State Common Retirement Fund (CRF) to enter into business with investment advisors who have made political contributions to the state’s comptroller or a candidate for state comptroller.

With outflows of $8.46 billion, tax-exempt money market funds fell to $428.91 billion in total assets during the week ending Sept. 21, according to the Money Fund Report, a service of iMoneyNet.com.

SAN FRANCISCO - After pricing its massive $8.8 billion revenue anticipation note sale on the low end of its projected yield range yesterday, California now turns to a general obligation bond sale planned in two weeks.

Retail investors and mutual funds snapped up municipal bonds in the second quarter, powering the fastest growth in outstanding state and local government debt in two years.

Municipal bond mutual funds continue to amass record quantities of cash from investors, building a pillar of demand for state and local government debt even as bond yields have never been lower.