Buy side

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.

Ahead of the April 15 income tax deadline this week, tax-exempt money market funds suffered outflows to the tune of $2.85 billion for the week ending April 14, according to the Money Fund Report, a service of imoneynet.com.

Nearly two dozen tax-exempt mutual funds were among those in the industry that received accolades for stellar historical performance by Lipper at its 2008 awards ceremony last week in New York City.

Weekly reporting municipal bond mutual funds had a net inflow of $345 million during the period ending April 9, AMG Data Services reported.

Although the largest new deal this week is $2 billion of taxable general obligation bonds from Connecticut, the calendar is also chock full of sizable new tax-exempt deals as the market makes room for an estimated $8.5 billion of competitive and negotiated volume.

The Bond Buyer's weekly yield indexes declined this week as a firmer tone persisted throughout the week, and yields in the municipal market dropped in nearly all the week's sessions.

For the first time ever, weekly assets of tax-free money market funds surpassed $500 billion as they soared to $504.8 billion for the week ending April 7, according to the Money Fund Report, a service of imoneynet.com.

Faced with one of the worst quarters for total return in the last five years, mutual fund managers said yield-curve positioning, proper credit selection, and risk aversion in the first quarter of 2008 were key to achieving top rankings - even as the universe of tax-exempt mutual funds totaling $131.7 billion was plagued by a negative 1.89% cumulative results for the three-month period ending Mar. 31, according to new data from Lipper Inc.

Weekly reporting municipal bond mutual funds had a net inflow of $333 million during the period ending April 2, AMG Data Services reported.

A billion-dollar deal in the Far West region and a bevy of new deals in the Northeast will lead this week's primary market calendar, which includes $6.68 billion of new volume compared with a revised $8.01 billion last week.

All The Bond Buyer's weekly yield indexes declined this week, as gains outweighed losses.