Nearly All Yields Drop as Long Bonds Fall in Each Session

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Nearly all The Bond Buyer’s weekly yield indexes declined this week as long-end yields fell with each passing session and prices strengthened, mostly on the back of a light primary market.

“The market is sort of ­bouncing off recent relative value, but doing it on a basis of low ­supply,” said Evan Rourke, portfolio manager at Eaton Vance. “It seems like the bid is improved, with a few buyers in there taking the market a little higher, but it’s not a real deep market. It feels like if there was some supply,” yields might not stay at these levels.

Rourke also noted that the tax-exempt market is still seeing money flowing out of mutual funds, though the pace has slowed in recent weeks.

In the new-issue market this week, the Florida State Board of Education competitively sold $344.7 million of public education capital outlay refunding bonds to Bank of America Merrill Lynch with a true interest cost of 3.27%. Also, Washington’s Bellevue School District No. 405 competitively sold $197 million of unlimited-tax general obligation bonds to JPMorgan with a TIC of 4.29%.

The taxable market was supposed to see a $3.7 billion Illinois offering this week, but the state held the issue, originally scheduled to sell Thursday, ­until next week so investors can review Gov. Pat Quinn’s budget proposal.

The Bond Buyer 20-bond index of 20-year GO yields declined 19 basis points this week to 5.10%. This is the lowest level for the index since Jan. 6, when it was 5.08%.

The 11-bond GO index of higher-grade 20-year GO yields dropped 20 basis points this week to 4.84%, which is the lowest it has been since Jan. 6, when it was also 4.84%.

The revenue bond index, which measures 30-year revenue bond yields, fell seven basis points this week to 5.60%. It is now at its lowest level since Jan. 13, when it was also 5.60%.

The Bond Buyer one-year note index, which is based on one-year tax-exempt note yields, rose two basis points this week to 0.53% but remained below its 0.56% level from two weeks ago.

The yield on the 10-year ­Treasury note fell 12 basis points this week to 3.58%, but it remained above its 3.56% level from two weeks ago.

The yield on the 30-year Treasury bond dropped 14 basis points this week to 4.66%, which is the lowest the yield has been since Jan. 27, when it was 4.57%.

The weekly average yield to maturity on The Bond Buyer’s 40-bond municipal bond index, which is based on 40 long-term municipal bond prices, finished at 5.71%, down nine basis points from last week’s 5.80%.

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