Buy side

Tax-free money market funds gained inflows of just $1.30 billion during the week ending Aug. 18, but that didn't stop the asset class from setting a record for total assets for the third week in a row, increasing to $528.36 billion, according to the Money Fund Report, a service of iMoneyNet.com of Westborough, Mass.

Nearly all The Bond Buyer's weekly yield indexes declined this week, as the municipal market was firmer in most of the week's sessions, and investors digested a healthy amount of new-issue supply.

WASHINGTON - Airports and toll roads face a more uncertain future than other transportation sectors, Fitch Ratings said in a special report due out today. The agency revised its outlook for both airports and toll roads to negative from stable, and suggested the sectors may be undergoing permanent transformation.

The municipal bond team at Evergreen Investments has a new leader. The Charlotte-based asset management firm has promoted Mathew Kiselak - a veteran with more than 20 years of municipal bond experience - to head of the municipal bond group effective immediately, the firm announced yesterday.

There will be a significant and noticeable bulge in note issuance this week when a $6.4 billion Texas note deal makes its way to the municipal market amid the dog days of summer.

Despite the credit crisis there has never been a better time to invest in fixed-income products, particularly triple-A commercial mortgage-backed securities, according to ...

Weekly reporting municipal bond mutual funds had a net inflow of $237 million during the period ending Aug. 13, AMG Data Services reported.

All of The Bond Buyer's weekly yield indexes declined this week, as tax-exempt yields dropped in nearly all the week's sessions.

With a weekly gain of $5.69 billion, tax-exempt money market funds for the second week in a row set a new record for total assets, growing to $527.06 billion for the week ending Aug. 11, according to The Money Fund Report, a service of iMoneyNet.com.

In a continued effort to restore liquidity to investors who purchased auction-rate securities issued by municipal closed-end funds, two major mutual fund families are the latest to announce plans to redeem outstanding ARS by using tender-option bonds - TOBs - as a new source of leverage.

The summer doldrums will take hold of the municipal market this week as new-issue volume dips to $3.96 billion from $5.21 billion last week, according to Thomson Reuters, and a $326.9 million District of Columbia general obligation offering takes the lead as the largest deal on the negotiated calendar.

Weekly reporting municipal bond mutual funds had a net inflow of $375 million during the period ending Aug. 6, AMG Data Services reported.

Tax-exempt money market fund assets hit a record-high of $521.37 billion for the week ending Aug. 4 after adding $13.36 billion of inflows, according to the Money Fund Report, a service of iMoneyNet.com of Westborough, Mass.

Nearly all The Bond Buyer's weekly yield indexes rose this week, as losses outweighed gains in a mostly unchanged week.

As the municipal market closes the books on July, which saw $30.51 billion of long-term volume, issuers in New York, California, and New Jersey will usher in August with three of this week's largest deals as part of an estimated $4.65 billion of new-issue volume - noticeably less than last week's revised $6.56 billion total, according to Thomson Reuters.

Weekly reporting municipal bond mutual funds had a net inflow of $255 million during the period ending July 30, AMG Data Services reported.

Most of The Bond Buyer's weekly yield indexes declined this week, as tax-exempts posted gains in most of the week's sessions, riding the coattails of a strengthening Treasury market.

Although tax-exempt funds lost significantly less than last week, they still suffered another week of outflows, losing $482.3 million for the week ending July 28, according to the Money Fund Report, a service of iMoneyNet.com of Westborough, Mass.

Amid ongoing market volatility and continued pressure from the credit crisis, a total of $30.51 billion in long-term debt was sold during the month of July, making it the third weakest month so far in 2008, according to Thomson Reuters.

WASHINGTON — An effort to increase the use of covered bonds by mortgage lenders as an alternative to securitization got a concerted push Monday from regulators and the nation's biggest financial institutions.