Investments

Wells Fargo is merging nearly $2.2 billion of Evergreen Investments municipal bond mutual funds into existing Wells funds as part of the bank’s purchase of Wachovia.

Essential service bonds continue to be considered among the safest municipal market investments, faring better than general obligations bonds in the current economic environment, on the back of the rate-setting ability of issuers and investor perception that these bonds are more immune to fiscal stress, according to market sources.

University of Puerto Rico officials and students reached an agreement this week that will end a two-month strike that shut down campuses and will allow the university to complete the school semester.

Moody’s Investors Service has revised its outlook to negative from stable on Hamline University’s Baa1 rating ahead of its $15 million refunding bond issue this week.

ALABAMAAlabama Water Pollution Control AuthorityJun 21, 2010 . . . . . . $35,980,000

ALABAMACentral Elmore Water and Sewer AuthorityJun 18, 2010 . . . . . . $6,320,000

DALLAS — The University of Texas System Board of Regents plans to price $520 million of Build America Bonds today, its largest single issue of the taxable debt and second-largest deal overall in at least a decade.

CHICAGO — The University of Cincinnati Thursday will price $128 million of debt that includes a mix of new-money and refunding tax-exempt bonds, taxable Build America Bonds, and notes. Roughly half of the long-term borrowing is earmarked for the renovation of the university’s Medical Science Building.

The Internal Revenue Service has closed an audit of $119.2 million of student loan bonds issued by the Massachusetts Educational Financing Authority with no change to the tax-exempt status of the debt.

Trustees of Maricopa County Community College District last week narrowly defeated a proposed 2% increase in the district’s property tax rate.

MASSACHUSETTSEast Longmeadow (Town)Jun 18, 2010 . . . . . . $3,539,168

ARIZONACity of BensonJun 18, 2010 . . . . . . $5,240,000

A $1.75 billion sale from California’s Bay Area Toll Authority will join a $1.4 billion offering of subordinate sales-tax revenue bonds from the Puerto Rico Sales Tax Financing Corp. to dominate the primary activity this week as the market prepares for an estimated $8.21 billion in new long-term volume, according to Ipreo LLC and The Bond Buyer.

Flows into municipal bond mutual funds remain moderate by recent standards.

ARKANSASMarion School District No. 3 of Crittenden CountyJun 17, 2010 . . . . . . $1,560,000

ALASKAAlaska Energy AuthorityJun 16, 2010 . . . . . . $28,800,000

The New Jersey Educational Facilities Authority is seeking requests for qualifications to provide it with post-issuance analysis for tax-compliance issues.

The sovereign debt crisis in Europe is coupling with the general malaise in financial markets to make life easier for tax-free money market funds by boosting key short-term interest rates.

The Bond Buyer’s weekly yield indexes rose this week, as tax-exempt bond prices fell for most of the period despite a mild recovery in tone over the past two sessions.

After a short-lived tide of inflows, tax-exempt money market funds lost $2.94 billion and finished with $351.84 billion for the week ending June 14, according to the Money Fund Report, a service of iMoneyNet.com.