The municipal market closed out the week largely unchanged, but with a slightly weaker tone."It's pretty quiet out there," a trader in New York said. "I'm not really seeing much movement. People seem like they're kind of ready for the weekend. I'd call it pretty flat at this point."
"There is a bit of a weaker tone, but it's mostly flat," a trader in Los Angeles said. "Maybe, you're off a basis point or so in spots, more on the long end. But for the most part it's just flat. It's a pretty quiet day, not a whole lot trading. People are kind of on the sidelines, waiting for the week to end."
Trades reported by the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board Friday showed were flat to slightly weaker.
Bonds from an interdealer trade of insured Chicago 5s of 2024 yielded 4.32%, even with where they traded Thursday. A dealer sold to a customer New York City Transitional Finance Authority 5.25s of 2039 at 5.36%, one basis point higher than where they were sold Thursday.
A dealer bought from a customer New York's Liberty Development Corp. 5.25s of 2035 at 5.94%, even with where they traded Thursday. Bonds from an interdealer trade of insured Port Tacoma, Wash., 5.25s of 2021 yielded 4.06%, even with where they were sold Thursday.
A dealer sold to a customer California 5.75s of 2031 at 5.71%, up one basis point from where they traded Thursday. A dealer sold to a customer insured Port St. Lucie, Fla., 5.25s of 2026 at 5.18%, even with where they were sold Thursday.
The Treasury market showed losses Friday. The yield on the benchmark 10-year note, which opened at 3.70%, was quoted near the end of the session at 3.74%.
The yield on the two-year note was quoted near the end of the session at 1.30% after opening at 0.96%. The yield on the 30-year bond, which opened at 4.58%, was quoted near the end of the session at 4.64%.
As of Thursday's close, the triple-A muni scale in 10 years was at 81.1% of comparable Treasuries, according to Municipal Market Data. Additionally, 30-year munis were 101.1% of comparable Treasuries.
As of the close Thursday, 30-year tax-exempt triple-A general obligation bonds were at 105.0% of the comparable London Interbank Offered Rate.
In economic data released Friday, non-farm payrolls dropped by 345,000 in May after a revised 504,000 decline in April. Economists polled by Thomson Reuters had predicted a decline of 520,000 jobs in May.
The unemployment rate climbed to 9.4% in May, up from 8.9% the previous month. Economists polled by Thomson Reuters had predicted a 9.2% unemployment rate.
Activity in the new-issue market was light Friday. However, activity will pick up this week, as an estimated $11.4 billion in total new-issue volume is expected, according to The Bond Buyer and Ipreo LLC.
The week's largest slated transactions are a $3.5 billion Puerto Rico Sales Tax Financing Corp. sales tax revenue offering to be priced by Citi on Wednesday, and a $900 million Los Angeles County tax and revenue anticipation one-year note sale that was postponed from this week in order for officials to assess how California's $24 billion budget gap would affect the county's finances.
Merrill, Lynch & Co., which will price the deal, does not yet have a firm pricing date set.
