Investments

The composition of municipal bonds coming to market is making it harder for some investors to diversify their portfolios.

After a seven-year hiatus from bonding, the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey today plans to sell $253 million of revenue refunding bonds with a special "lockbox" structure to secure debt service payments.

WASHINGTON — The Treasury Department extended its $3 trillion temporary guarantee program for money market mutual funds through Sept. 19 to provide continued reassurance for investors.

CALIFORNIACalipatria Unified School DistrictMar 30, 2009 . . . . . . $588,000

ALABAMAShelby County Board of EducationMar 31, 2009 . . . . . . $68,050,000

Northern Arizona University said it will cut 45 jobs and close four satellite campuses after its state funding for fiscal 2009 was cut by $21 million as part of January’s budget-balancing bill.

ARKANSASShannon HillsMar 12, 2009 . . . . . . $625,000

IOWAPocahontas Area Community School DistrictMar 30, 2009 . . . . . . $10,890,000

Fresh from a successful taxable debt sale and a downgrade, Cornell University is back in the market with $305 million of tax-exempt bonds this week with a retail order period expected to begin tomorrow with institutional pricing on Wednesday. The Dormitory Authority of the State of New York will issue the bonds.

Cash influxes into municipal bond mutual funds continued to accelerate last week as state and local government debt rallied amid an upsurge in the broader financial markets.

Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick's administration last week announced that it will begin evaluating a potential merger of the Massachusetts Health and Educational Facilities Authority and the Massachusetts Development Finance Agency in an effort to cut expenditures and create efficiencies between the two entities, yet critics say the move could increase borrowing costs for colleges and hospitals throughout the state.

The municipal market faces a calendar of $4.59 billion of new debt this week, smaller but still sizable, after devouring the $6.5 billion California general obligation sale last week with only a slight uptick in yields, according to data from Thomson Reuters.

CALIFORNIALos Angeles County Schools Pooled Financing ProgramMar 19, 2009 . . . . . . $12,765,000

The University of Connecticut March 30 will sell $150 million of fixed-rate, tax-exempt bonds to help finance new buildings and campus renovations, with the state paying debt service on the new-money debt.

The Bond Buyer’s weekly yield indexes were mixed this week, as an onslaught of more than $10 billion of primary market supply dominated the municipal market landscape.

The assets of tax-exempt money market funds fell by $1.32 billion and settled at $484.44 billion for the week ending March 23, according to the Money Fund Report, a service of iMoneyNet.com.

Investors looking to retire in a decade or two wish they could still bank on 8% annual returns on their portfolios.

ARIZONATubac Fire DistrictMar 26, 2009 . . . . . . $6,795,000

ILLINOISAptakisic-Tripp Community Consolidated School District No. 102Mar 26, 2009 . . . . . . $2,405,000

WASHINGTON - The Virginia Resources Authority next week will come to market with debt to help finance restoration of the Chesapeake Bay, while the Virginia College Building Authority will sell bonds to pay for various projects.