Munis Finish Unchanged to Slightly Weaker

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The municipal market was unchanged to slightly weaker Friday.

"We're a little weaker, but it's pretty dead out there," a trader in Los Angeles said. "A lot of people took the day off, took a long weekend, and it's not going to get much better next week. Really the summer doldrums right now. But we're off maybe a basis point or two, mostly on the long end. It's pretty flat on the short end."

"It's really quiet," a trader in New York added. "There's not a whole lot out for bid. There's just not a whole lot going on."

Trades reported by the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board Friday were unchanged to slightly weaker. A dealer sold to a customer Connecticut Housing Finance Authority 5.15s of 206 at 5.85%, even with where they were sold Thursday. Bonds from an interdealer trade of California 5s of 2032 yielded 5.12%, one basis point higher than where they traded Thursday. A dealer sold to a customer Wisconsin 5s of 2028 at 4.60%, one basis point higher than where they were sold Thursday.

The Treasury market, however, showed some losses Friday. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which opened at 3.87%, finished at the same level. The yield on the two-year note was quoted near the end of the session at 2.40% after opening at 2.31%. The yield on the 30-year Treasury finished at 4.47% after opening at 4.46%.

The economic calendar was light Friday. However, a slate of economic data will be released this week, beginning today, with existing home sales for July. Tomorrow, the August consumer confidence index and July new home sales will be released, followed Wednesday by the July durable goods report, and Thursday by initial jobless claims for the week ended Aug. 23, continuing jobless claims for the week ended Aug. 16, and preliminary second quarter gross domestic product. On Friday, personal income for July will be released, along with July personal consumption, the July core personal consumption expenditures deflator, the August Chicago purchasing managers index, and the final August University of Michigan consumer sentiment index.

Economists polled by IFR Markets are predicting an annual rate of 4.94 million existing home sales, a 53.0 reading for the consumer confidence index, an annual rate of 525,000 new home sales, a 0.1% uptick in durable good orders, a 0.3% dip in durable goods orders excluding transportation, 427,000 initial jobless claims, 3.400 million continuing jobless claims, a 2.7% annual rate for GDP, a 0.1% decline in personal income, a 0.2% increase in personal consumption, a 0.3% rise to the core PCE deflator, a 49.8 Chicago PMI reading, and a 62.0 reading for the Michigan sentiment index.

Activity in the new-issue market was light Friday.

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