Public finance

Barclays Global Investors plans to launch a family of municipal bond exchange-traded funds designed to behave more like munis themselves by liquidating at maturity.

INDIANAPenn Township of St. Joseph CountyNov 21, 2009 . . . . . . $300,000

Table as of: 10/23/2009 16:04 PM Invisible Supply Issuer and purpose Amount* Approval

CALIFORNIACalifornia State Public Works BoardOct 22, 2009 . . . . . . $555,210,000

The primary market should be fairly brisk this week as the new-issue calendar includes two California deals each larger than $1 billion, a handful of Build America Bond issues, short-term notes, variable-rate bonds, and a generous helping of long-term essential service issues.

It appears the wave of cash flooding the industry all year may have finally crested.

ALABAMAAlabama Public School and College AuthorityOct 21, 2009 . . . . . . $680,035,000

ARKANSASMount Ida School District No. 20 of Montgomery CountyOct 21, 2009 . . . . . . $4,250,000

The Bond Buyer’s weekly yield indexes were mixed this week, as municipals were little changed following last week’s sell-off, which prompted a number of issuers to pull scheduled refunding deals from this week’s primary.

The assets of tax-exempt money market funds declined by $2.70 billion and settled at $417.89 billion for the week ending Oct. 19, according to the Money Fund Report, a service of iMoneyNet.com.

ARKANSASBauxite School District No. 14 of Saline CountyOct 21, 2009 . . . . . . $1,220,000

ALABAMACity of Red BayOct 19, 2009 . . . . . . $4,435,000

A little more than a year ago, precisely at the time people were scrambling to protect the value of their municipal bonds, hedging to protect the value of munis became untenable.

Table as of: 10/20/2009 15:54 PM Invisible Supply Issuer and purpose Amount* Approval

ARKANSASGenoa Central School District No. 1 of Miller CountyOct 20, 2009 . . . . . . $6,305,000

FLORIDAMartin CountyOct 20, 2009 . . . . . . $28,675,000

ARIZONAPoquito Valley Road Improvement District of Yavapai CountyOct 19, 2009 . . . . . . $1,857,000

ALABAMANortheast Morgan County Water and Sewer AuthorityOct 8, 2009 . . . . . . $15,045,000

Three professors from Willamette University have published a study reaching a surprising conclusion — municipalities do not sell more bonds when federal tax rates go up.

As exchange-traded funds continue to grow in scope and popularity, investment experts warn that some products, such as leveraged and inverse ETFs, may be too dangerous for all but the most experienced investors.