Public finance

A pair of New Jersey Transportation Trust Fund Authority offerings totaling more than $1 billion will dominate the primary market this week amid an array of other sizable offerings from Texas, Colorado, and New York.

Hurricane Sandy and a presidential election helped to pare municipal bond issuance by 20% for the month of November, breaking from the surging volume numbers that have dominated most of 2012.

The toll of Hurricane Sandy on the Eastern Seaboard's transportation infrastructure underscores the need to fund both annual maintenance and "generational" infrastructure projects, said John Porcari of the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Alabama prices $340 million of new Garvee bonds Wednesday as part of Gov. Robert Bentley's Alabama Transportation Rehabilitation and Improvement Program.

Spending on transportation infrastructure construction is likely to grow a modest 3% next year to a total of $130.3 billion, according to the American Road and Transportation Builders Association's annual forecast.

The ability to fast-track stalled projects as well as create jobs is making the design-build-finance model attractive to states, panelists said at The Bond Buyer's annual transportation and P3 conference.

ARKANSAS

ALABAMA

After amassing more than $3 billion last week, tax-exempt money market funds stayed in postitive territory -- albeit only by $260.5 million in the week ended Nov. 26 as total net assets settled at $272.04 billion, according to The Money Fund Report, a service of iMoneyNet.com.

Investors, still high on the muni market, continue to allocate money to municipal bond mutual funds, to the tune of $545 million.

With Congress and the Obama administration honed in on resolving the national budget crisis and avoiding the fiscal cliff, it's unlikely the already squeezed transportation sector will avoid a hit, predicted sector specialist Jane Garvy.

Panelists at the Bond Buyer's annual transportation and P3 conference said the newly expanded TIFIA program, combined with private activity bonds and yield-hungry investors are powerful tools for governments embarking on public-private transportation projects.

Table as of: 11/28/2012 15:31 PM Invisible Supply Issuer and purpose Amount

CONNECTICUT

CALIFORNIA

President Obama should seek federally-subsidized infrastructure bonds, a national infrastructure bank, and standardization of state tolling authority to help accomplish his infrastructure investment goals, the Center for American Progress said in a new report.

Table as of: 11/28/2012 15:30 PM Invisible Supply Issuer and purpose Amount

ARKANSAS

INDIANA

Lipper has revised its weekly municipal bond fund flows lower for the week ending Nov. 21 after an error with Goldman Sachs led the company to report higher flows.