Buy side

CHICAGO - The wave of upgrades on the horizon as rating agencies shift to a new global rating scale comes as governments face some of their toughest fiscal challenges in decades, and could sow uncertainty across the municipal market, investor analysts said at a recent roundtable here.

Weekly reporting municipal bond mutual funds had a net inflow of $89 million during the period ending Sept. 17, AMG Data Services reported.

Although the municipal market saw slight gains on Friday, the volatility that rocked Wall Street last week will continue to affect new-issue volume in the municipal market this week.

As skittish investors seek out the safest possible investments to protect themselves from the financial markets' latest crisis, short-term yields in the U.S. Treasury market have plunged noticeably lower over the past week as a result of a massive flight to quality, while tax-free money market yields have increased dramatically.

The Bond Buyer's weekly yield indexes rose dramatically, as tax-exempts grew continuously weaker amidst this week's credit crunch.

A $1.3 billion North Carolina education financing will command the spotlight in the primary market this week as the municipal market is expected to see an estimated $6 billion in competitive and negotiated new-issue volume, compared with last week's revised $4.2 billion, according to Thomson Reuters.

Weekly reporting municipal bond mutual funds had a net inflow of $212 million during the period ending Sept. 10, AMG Data Services reported.

Nearly all The Bond Buyer's weekly yield indexes declined this week, as municipals mostly followed the Treasury market in a mixed week during which gains outweighed losses.

After a two-week slump, tax-exempt money market funds were back in positive territory during the week ending Sept. 8, taking in $9.84 billion of inflows to settle at $524.12 billion in total assets, according to the Money Fund Report, a service of iMoneyNet.com of Westborough, Mass.

Weekly reporting municipal bond mutual funds had a net inflow of $252 million during the period ending Sept. 3, AMG Data Services reported.

The Northeast region will take center stage in this week's primary market when a trio of sizable deals - led by a $467.2 million revenue sale and auction-rate conversion from the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York - is expected to be priced as part of an estimated $4.90 billion in total new-issue volume, according to Thomson Reuters.

Tax-exempt money market fund assets took another noticeable dip during the week ending Sept. 1, suffering a net decline of $6.28 billion to settle at $514.3 billion, according to the Money Fund Report, a service of iMoneyNet.com of Westborough, Mass.

Most of The Bond Buyer's weekly yield indexes declined this week, as the municipal market was largely unchanged to slightly firmer through most sessions as investors returned to work from a long weekend.

Weekly reporting municipal bond mutual funds had a net inflow of $432 million during the period ending Aug. 27, AMG Data Services reported.

A Massachusetts general obligation offering and a $1.8 billion New Jersey tax and revenue anticipation note sale will compete for investors' attention as the first two largest deals to be priced as the market bids farewell to summer and gets back to business after the Labor Day hiatus.

CHICAGO -Capital spending is expected to remain heavy across the nonprofit health care sector amid mounting financial pressures and the fallout from the collapsed auction-rate securities market, according to a pair of reports released this week by Moody's Investors Service and Standard & Poor's.

Most of The Bond Buyer's weekly yield indexes rose this week, as municipals weakened in most of the week's sessions, which saw light activity ahead of a long weekend.

Tax-exempt money market funds suffered outflows of $7.81 billion and slipped below the previous week's record high asset growth during the week ending Aug. 25, according to the Money Fund Report, a service of iMoneyNet.com of Westborough, Mass.

The primary market will see a skimpy sampling of moderately sized deals this week as new-issue volume dips to $3.09 billion, according to Thomson Reuters, and the municipal market slows to a snail's pace in the last full week of trading activity before the Labor Day hiatus.

Weekly reporting municipal bond mutual funds had a net inflow of $338 million during the period ending Aug. 20, AMG Data Services reported.