Buy side

Tax-exempt money market funds lost the inflows they earned last week — and then some — as a result of the $2.82 billion of outflows that fled during the week ended Aug. 17 that caused the funds to settle at $446.12 billion, according to The Money Fund Report, a service of iMoneyNet.com of Westborough, Mass.

Asset managers expect it will take four to seven years to recover the assets under management lost during the economic crisis, according to a study by McKinsey & Co.

With municipal volume down nearly $50 billion so far this year, retail investors are having to look outside their comfort zones to add value to their portfolios, municipal analysts, trading, sales, and underwriting sources said.

With a gusher of new money and seemingly few alluring opportunities on which to spend it, one might guess municipal bond mutual funds would be sitting on a ton of cash.

New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo Monday filed fraud charges against Charles Schwab & Co., alleging it misled investors about the risks of auction-rate securities.

The municipal market will get another significant dose of Build America Bonds this week when more than $2 billion of the taxable securities are expected to arrive in the primary market as part of an estimated $7.26 billion in total new-issue volume, according to Ipreo LLC and The Bond Buyer.

Even the most uninviting yields ever on short-term municipal debt cannot stem the tidal wave of cash flooding short-term municipal bond mutual funds.

After seeing slight losses last week, the total assets of tax-exempt money market funds rose by $2.07 billion and settled at $448.94 billion for the week ending Aug. 10, according to the Money Fund Report, a service of iMoneyNet.com of Westborough, Mass.

The Bond Buyer’s yield indexes were mixed this week, as the municipal market experienced little movement, with a good primary market supply and fairly light secondary trading activity.

For an illustration of the global reach of the credit crisis, consider the plight of Narvik, a Norwegian municipality on the banks of the Ofotfjord.

A spike in Treasury rates threatens to stomp out the rally in short-term municipal bonds, investors and analysts say.

The rate at which investors stuff money into municipal bond mutual funds continues to break every record.

Given the recent summer doldrums in the municipal market, investors should be eager to sink their teeth into meaty new issues on the primary market calendar this week.

Retail investors face a drought of new tax-free municipal bonds.

The Bond Buyer’s weekly yield indexes mostly declined slightly this week as the summer doldrums set in for the muni market, and several large new issues in the primary market were stuck with lethargic trading and little movement.

The total assets of tax-free money market funds dipped slightly by $1.49 billion to $446.87 billion for the week ending Aug. 3, according to the Money Fund Report, a service of iMoneyNet.com.

Burgeoning demand for short-term municipal bonds has stretched the muni yield curve to an unusually steep slope.

Strengthening risk appetite and the prospect of an end to the recession continued to galvanize the current of cash flooding municipal bond mutual funds last week.

Build America Bonds will make a prominent appearance in this week's primary market as three of the largest deals will offer a sizable amount of the taxable securities amid an estimated $6.33 billion in total competitive and negotiated volume, according to Ipreo LLC and The Bond Buyer.

The Bond Buyer’s weekly yield indexes were mixed this week, as municipals traded quietly and sluggishly in the secondary market amid a light new-issue calendar.