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U.S. municipal bond funds reported $2.22 billion of net outflows in the week ended June 19, up from outflows of $1.6 billion in the previous week, according to data released by Lipper on Thursday. The funds have had net outflows for four straight weeks, with the latest week the biggest since mid-December. For the four weeks outflows amounted to $5.4 billion. The four-week moving average remained negative at $1.36 billion, said Lipper, a unit of Thomson Reuters. Investors pulled out of high-yield funds for a fifth consecutive week, with net outflows of nearly $850 million, which was also the highest since the week of Dec. 19. In the week ended June 12, the funds reported outflows of $657 million.   Exchange-traded muni funds saw outflows of $54 million in the latest week, up from $7 million in the prior week, according to Lipper. Meanwhile, retail investors bought 1.8 muni bonds for every one they sold in the week ended June 19, up slightly from a ratio of 1.7 the week before, acc

Greece's coalition leaders failed to agree to on how to resume state television broadcasts during their third round of talks this week, deepening a nine-day impasse that has renewed fears of political instability in the country. Prime Minister Antonis Samaras had appeared close to a compromise earlier this week with his two leftist coalition partners over the sudden closure of the ERT state broadcaster, until the three-party talks collapsed again on Thursday. The leader of the smallest party in the coalition, Fotis Kouvelis of the Democratic Left, attacked Samaras for failing to comply with a court ruling ordering ERT back on air and rejecting his proposal for a reformed broadcaster.   "No common ground was reached at the political leaders' meeting with regards to the issue of ERT," Kouvelis said. Democratic Left party officials were due to meet on Friday morning to discuss their stance on the issue, officials said. The leader of the other junior coalition partn

Global equity markets, bond prices and commodities fell sharply on Thursday in a deep selloff, a day after the Federal Reserve said the U.S. economy was growing strongly enough for it to begin slowing its unprecedented stimulus. The Fed's bond-buying program, known as quantitative easing, has lifted both the U.S. economy and world financial markets by pushing interest rates to historic lows. But comments by Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke on Wednesday, when he laid out a likely end to the program by next year if the economy strengthens further, brought a dose of finality to the markets. "The market has had its safety blanket taken away," said Chris Wyllie, chief investment officer at wealth manager Iveagh Ltd in London. Andrew Szczurowski, a portfolio manager at Eaton Vance in Boston, said he viewed the U.S. economy as a person lost at sea to whom Bernanke had thrown a life vest. "And now all of a sudden Bernanke is talking about poking a hole in the life vest, perha

Maine's Republican Governor, Paul LePage, touched off a firestorm of criticism on Thursday when he made a vulgar remark about a Democratic state senator. LePage said during a television interview that Senator Troy Jackson, with whom he has sparred recently over budget issues, "claims to be for the people, but he's the first one to give it to the people without providing Vaseline."   The remarks followed LePage's promise, at an Americans for Prosperity rally in Augusta, the state capital, to veto a $6.3 billion, two-year budget. Democrats criticized LePage's unwillingness to compromise on the bipartisan budget, which last week passed with two-thirds majorities in both the Maine House and Senate. The Democratic speaker of the House of Representatives immediately blasted the remark "LePage's language today crosses a new line - even for him," House Speaker Mark Eves said. "I would not want my children to hear these vulgar comments from the

The Ontario Superior Court on Thursday granted Molson Coors a temporary injunction that prevents Miller Brewing Co from ending a license agreement with Molson's Canadian arm before a trial scheduled for December. _0"> In February, Miller, a subsidiary of SABMiller Plc, had announced that it planned to end the deal with Molson Coors Canadian arm as it believed its partner was not doing enough to promote Miller brands in Canada. Molson Coors in turn filed a lawsuit seeking to prevent the termination of the license agreement. Miller had provided Molson with a notice of termination in January, and it had been aiming to end the agreement on July 22.   Miller said on Thursday it was disappointed with the court's decision, but said it remains confident in its position ahead of the trial. A spokesman for Molson was not immediately reachable for comment. "We remain firm in our expectation that the Court will agree that we adhered to the terms of our Canadian license

Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras on Friday called on the small Democratic Left party in his ruling coalition to back him after talks to resume state television broadcasts collapsed, leaving the government in disarray. _0"> Samaras said he had compromised by offering to re-hire 2,000 out of the 2,600 ERT workers who were fired when it was yanked off air last week, which was accepted by the Socialist PASOK party but rejected by the Democratic Left.   "I want us to continue together as we started but I will move on either way," Samaras said in a televised statement. "Our aim is to conclude our effort to save the country, always with a four-year term in the horizon. We hope for the Democratic Left's support."

The Mexican state of Veracruz was hit by heavy rains on Thursday after Tropical Storm Barry moved away from Mexico's major oil installations and weakened to a Tropical Depression. Only one of Mexico's three major oil-exporting ports - Dos Bocas - remained closed, but state oil monopoly Pemex said it was unaffected by the storm. Almost all of Mexico's crude oil exports, which totaled 1.275 million barrels per day (bpd) in April, are shipped to refineries on the Gulf Coast of the United States from the ports of Coatzacoalcos, Dos Bocas and Cayo Arcas.   The rains falling in the town of Actopan in Veracruz were more severe than those during Hurricane Karl, a Category 3 storm that battered the state in 2010, said town spokesman Rafael Alberto Moreno. There is a risk that the Actopan River, one of the biggest in the state, might overflow and townspeople were being evacuated from their homes, he said. Barry is expected to lose strength during the course of Thursday, and th