Buy side

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.

Weekly reporting municipal bond mutual funds had a net inflow of $509 million during the period ending July 23, AMG Data Services reported.

A nearly $2 billion taxable offering of revenue bonds for the Chicago Transit Authority may be priced in the new-issue market this week, leading an otherwise modest slate of deals as July comes to a close.

Tax-free money market funds remained in negative territory this week as they lost $4.98 billion and ended the week of July 21 with $508.49 billion in total assets, according to the Money Fund Report, a service of iMoneyNet of Westborough, Mass.

The Bond Buyer's weekly yield indexes rose this week, as the municipal market weakened in all but one of the week's sessions.

Providers of municipal bond pricing and evaluation services say they are managing to deliver accurate and transparent pricing of more than one million tax-exempt securities on a daily basis - even though the market is experiencing one of the most pronounced and prolonged periods of volatility in the last three decades.

WASHINGTON - Marking the 10th anniversary of Allegheny Health, Education, and Research Foundation's historic bankruptcy filing and payment default, Moody's Investors Service issued a report yesterday on the lessons learned from that debacle and the challenges still facing nonprofit hospitals.

A pair of issuers from Los Angeles will have starring roles in this week's primary market, which is expected to see an estimated $7.67 billion of new-issue volume, according to Thomson Reuters, compared with a revised $6.27 billion last week.

Weekly reporting municipal bond mutual funds had a net inflow of $251 million during the period ending July 16, AMG Data Services reported.

Expect to hear and read this term much more often: "covered bonds."

Tax-free money market funds had a short-lived period of positive inflows last week, and returned to negative territory this week as they lost $1.32 billion and ended the week of July 14 with $513.48 billion in total assets, according to the Money Fund Report, a service of iMoneyNet of Westborough, Mass.