Investments

WASHINGTON - Morgan Stanley announced Monday it will refinance illiquid auction-rate preferred shares with tender options bonds, created from municipal securities in 10 of its closed-end municipal funds, to escape high interest rates and provide liquidity to its auction-rate securities investors.

KANSASAbilene (City)Sep 29, 2008 . . . . . . $3,700,000

ARIZONAPima County Industrial Development AuthoritySep 12, 2008 . . . . . . $24,550,000

DALLAS - Rating analysts have placed $1.23 billion of prepaid gas bonds from Salt Verde Financial Corp. on watch for possible downgrade based on the credit rating of counterparty Citigroup.

CALIFORNIAABAG Finance Authority For Nonprofit CorporationsSep 25, 2008 . . . . . . $4,550,000

MICHIGANBrimley Area SchoolsSep 29, 2008 . . . . . . $555,000

CALIFORNIABurton Elementary School DistrictSep 17, 2008 . . . . . . $2,730,000

The primary market will again be severely diminished this week as several new issues remain in limbo against a backdrop of continued weakness in municipals and intense anxiety in the overall financial markets as a result of last week's government takeover of Washington Mutual and the pending resolution by Congress of the $700 million financial industry rescue plan.

The Dormitory Authority of the State of New York last week approved new bond financings, refundings, and conversions totaling $1.68 billion, including up to $1.1 billion of personal income tax bonds.

University of Massachusetts officials last week unanimously approved a $2.56 billion, five-year capital plan that includes $1.45 billion of borrowing to support infrastructure improvements throughout the system's five campuses.

Weekly reporting municipal bond mutual funds had a net outflow of $398 million during the period ending Sept. 24, AMG Data Services reported.

ARIZONAArizona Housing Finance AuthoritySep 24, 2008 . . . . . . $25,000,000

MINNESOTAElko New Market (City)Sep 25, 2008 . . . . . . $2,020,000

Tax-exempt money market funds began recovering some of the nearly $30 billion of outflows they suffered in the past seven days, but market participants say there's still a feeling of queasiness among traders and investors in the midst of a disconnect between municipal and Treasury securities as the government bailout program unfolds.

The Bond Buyer's weekly yield indexes pushed higher this week, as municipals grew consistently weaker in the wake of more than a week's worth of market turmoil.

CHICAGO - Despite remaining largely insulated from the turmoil in the capital markets so far, the years-long strong operating performance across the nonprofit health care sector could be headed for a decline in 2009, particularly among smaller, lower-rated credits, Fitch Ratings analysts said in a report on median ratios on the industry released yesterday.

CALIFORNIALos Angeles Convention and Exhibition Center AuthoritySep 24, 2008 . . . . . . $253,060,000

FLORIDABrevard County School DistrictSep 24, 2008 . . . . . . $35,000,000

Standard & Poor's Tuesday dropped its rating on the $709 million issue of Main Street Natural Gas Inc. Series 2008A project gas revenue bonds to default level, following a series of events that could potentially leave bondholders as unsecured creditors in Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings.

CHICAGO - Ohio State University plans to enter the market Monday with the first of two bond issues totaling roughly $350 million that will kick off a $1.5 billion, six-year capital plan.