The municipal market was unchanged to slightly weaker Friday, following Treasuries. Traders said tax-exempt yields were unchanged to higher by three or four basis points in spots.
"There isn't a whole lot of movement that I'm seeing, but the tone is a little bit weaker," a trader in New York said. "We're pretty flat in certain areas, but we're seeing losses in spots."
Trades reported by the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board showed losses Friday. A dealer sold to a customer insured Chicago 5.375s of 2032 at 5.55%, up four basis points from where they were sold Thursday. A dealer sold to a customer California 5s of 2037 at 6.01%, three basis points from where they traded Thursday. A dealer sold to a customer insured Miami-Dade County 5.125s of 2025 at 5.58%, up two basis points from where they were sold Thursday.
"We had been generally better in every session over the past week or so, but we definitely saw some weakness todday," a trader in Los Angeles said. "I don't know that it moved the scale more than three basis points or so, but Treasuries were weaker, and so were we, though not to quite the same extent."
The Treasury market showed losses Friday. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which opened at 3.01%, finished at 3.19%. The yield on the two-year note was quoted near the end of the session at 1.07% after opening at 0.98%. The yield on the 30-year bond, which opened at 3.49%, was quoted near the end of the session at 3.68%.
The economic calendar was light Friday. However, a slate of economic data will be released during holiday-shortened this week. Today, existing home sales for October will be released, followed tomorrow by the preliminary third-quarter gross domestic product and November consumer confidence index. On Wednesday, as the market prepares for the Thanksgiving holiday, October personal income, October personal consumption, the core personal consumption expenditures deflator for October, October durable goods, initial jobless claims for the week ended Nov. 22, continuing jobless claims for the week ended Nov. 15, the November Chicago purchasing managers index, the November final University of Michigan consumer sentiment index, and October new home sales will all be released.
Economists polled by Thomson Reuters are predicting 5.000 million existing home sales, a 0.5% decline in GDP, a 38.0 consumer confidence index, a 0.1% rise in personal income, a 0.9% drop in personal consumption, no change to the core PCE deflator, a 2.6% dip in durable goods, a 1.5% decline in durable goods excluding transportation, 537,000 initial jobless claims, 4.050 million continuing jobless claims, a 36.5 Chicago PMI, a 57.9 Michigan sentiment index, and 450,000 new home sales.
Activity in the new-issue market was light Friday.
