Buy side

The Bond Buyer's yield indexes mostly declined slightly in this holiday-shortened week, as municipals remained little changed through most of the sessions.

Citing an increased need for professional management of municipal bond investments an the increasingly volatile market, Miller Tabak & Co. launched a subsidiary investment advisory firm specializing in the management of high-quality municipal bonds for individuals.

After being postponed for nearly two months, the San Francisco Airport Commission is expected to make an appearance in the primary market this week with a $573.3 million sale of revenue bonds against a backdrop of continued conversions of auction-rate securities.

The amount of outstanding tax-exempt debt grew to $2.618 trillion in 2007, and money market funds continue to be the fastest-growing category of bondholders.

The Bond Buyer's weekly yield indexes were mixed this week, as positive sessions were slightly outweighed by negative ones, particularly away from the short end of the municipal yield curve.

Tax-free money market funds reeled in a whopping $7.251 billion of inflows during the week ending March 10, after netting just $264.4 million the week before, according to the Money Fund Report, a service of imoneynet.com.

Large issuers in California, New York, Texas, and Maryland will test the choppy waters of the primary market this week as part of an estimated $8.2 billion in new-issue volume expected to debut as the market continues to grapple with ongoing turmoil in the auction-rate and credit sectors.

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

Nearly all of The Bond Buyer's weekly yield indexes declined this week, fueled by a flood of investor demand that helped turn around the municipal market's period of prolonged weakness.

Tax-exempt money market funds saw positive inflows during the week ending March 3, taking in $264.6 million, after two consecutive weeks of suffering outflows, according to the Money Fund Report, a service of imoneynet.com.

On the heels of a fairly lackluster February, a trio of super-sized deals will kick off March in the Texas, California, and Puerto Rico markets. An estimated $10.16 billion is expected to be priced into a relatively weak municipal market clouded by failed auction-rate transactions and the problems still facing bond insurers as a result the general contraction in liquidity.

Weekly reporting municipal bond mutual funds had a net inflow of $170 million during the period ending Feb. 27, AMG Data Services reported.

Prompted by uncertainty and volatility in the municipal market, Van Eck Global Securities last week rolled out a short-term municipal exchange-traded fund in hopes of targeting investors that are seeking shelter by staying defensive amid the recent turmoil.

Continued weakness has permeated through the municipal market over the past two weeks, leading to the second prolonged disengagement of tax-exempts from the Treasury market in the past seven months - and a dramatic rise of The Bond Buyer's weekly yield indexes.

For the second week in a row, tax-exempt money market funds suffered outflows for the week ending Feb. 25, according the Money Fund Report, a service of imoneynet.com.

The few minor legislative tax changes that occurred in several states in 2007 were kind to taxpayers both large and small.

Weekly reporting municipal bond mutual funds had a net inflow of $182 million during the period ending Feb. 20, AMG Data Services reported.

Vanguard Group has reshuffled the management at the top of two tax-exempt bond funds, reassigning responsibilities over the limited-term tax-exempt fund and the insured long-term tax-exempt fund.

Maryland’s $400 million general obligation sale to finance various state and local construction projects leads a small flurry of new-issue activity in the Northeast and is the largest deal in an otherwise fairly lackluster new-issue market. This week’s volume is expected to be $4.33 billion, up from a revised $2.76 billion last week,

A new version of a model-based, portfolio management tool is being offered to broker-dealers seeking increased efficiencies when establishing, building, and maintaining fixed-income portfolios for retail investors as an alternative to traditional money managers or bond funds.