Buy side

A handful of sizable deals will make their way to the primary market this week as the municipal market begins to show signs of the seasonal lull in volume that is typical ahead of the Memorial Day holiday next week.

The Bond Buyer's weekly yield indexes declined this week, as tax-exempt yields fell in all but one of the week's sessions.

Topping last week's haul of nearly $10 billion, tax-free money market funds raked in $11.9 billion, setting a record high of $511.5 billion in total assets for the week ending May 12, according to the Money Fund Report, a service of iMoneynet.com of Westborough, Mass.

Implementation of a unified global rating scale for both municipal and corporate bonds is unlikely to have a significant market impact, municipal bond investors say.

Weekly reporting municipal bond mutual funds had a net inflow of $881 million during the period ending May 7, AMG Data Services reported.

Except for two large school financings in Nevada and Florida to hold investors' attention this week, there will be a lull in primary market activity as new-issue volume declines by just over $1 billion from last week's total, continuing May's slow start.

The Bond Buyer's weekly yield indexes were mixed this week as market participants focused on new issues.

Tax-free money market funds gained nearly $10 billion during the week ending May 5, recouping twice the $5 billion-plus they lost in the previous week, according to the Money Fund Report, a service of Westborough, Mass.-based imoneynet.com.

Weekly reporting municipal bond mutual funds had a net inflow of $478 million during the period ending April 30, AMG Data Services reported.

While April ended with record-high volume of $43.8 billion, May is starting out on a sluggish note with new issuance expected to decline significantly from last week.

In the supermarket of investment products, municipal exchange-traded funds are a relatively new brand label, but have been steadily gaining attention and experiencing noticeable growth of assets and trading volume since their debut in fall 2007 at the start of the credit crisis.

Tax-exempt money market funds lost $5.09 billion during the week ending April 28, causing total assets to fall to $489.6 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 tax-exempt yields declined slightly in most of the week's sessions.

Weekly reporting municipal bond mutual funds had a net inflow of $845 million during the period ending April 23, AMG Data Services reported.

Two sizable California offerings and a large North Carolina power deal will lead the primary activity this week as the municipal market faces a slight lull in new-issue volume on the heels of a supply swell last week.

The Bond Buyer's weekly yield indexes rose this week, as tax-exempt yields either remained unchanged or climbed higher in each of the week's sessions, and a weaker tone permeated throughout.

Tax-exempt money market fund assets declined by $7.27 billion for the week ending April 21 - nearly triple the outflows that they lost the prior week ahead of the income tax deadline, according to the Money Fund Report, a service of imoneynet.com.

Puerto Rico will headline primary market activity this week with its scheduled sale of $1.1 billion of general obligation bonds, along with a handful of education deals and at least two sizable auction-rate conversion deals.

Weekly reporting municipal bond mutual funds had a net inflow of $450 million during the period ending April 16, AMG Data Services reported.

Most of The Bond Buyer's weekly yield indexes rose this week, as municipal yields rose in almost all the week's sessions.