Market Post: Muni Yield Picture Cloudy on Little Activity

Light issuance and the small amount of activity in the secondary market so far Monday have muddied traders' assessments of the municipal market heading into the afternoon.

Smaller competitive loans and a few customer bid-wanteds have left yields largely unchanged from where they parked at the end of last week. Also, there were some smaller competitive loans that sold earlier in the session that did reasonably well, a trader in New York said.

Basically, though, traders have been scratching their heads for a clearer picture.

"The market is probably unchanged in very quiet trading," he said. "It's really tough to tell. There are some customer bid-wanteds that look like they've gotten some pretty decent numbers on them.

Market participants are mostly gearing up for the week's larger deals, traders have said, which are set to start arriving Tuesday.

The primary market should see a total of $7.64 billion in supply this week. That compares with a revised $7.44 billion last week. But there's really not a lot of trading going on."

The weekly volume numbers approximate the amount the market has been seeing lately. Industry watchers expect the calendar to be absorbed easily.

A $1.5 billion taxable deal for the Catholic Health Initiative, in Colorado, should pace all deals this week. Almost $900 million of Honolulu city and county general obligation bonds in seven series should also pepper the docket. A deal for $550 million in California GO refunding bonds is expected to lead all competitive issues.

Municipal yields outperformed those of Treasuries last week across the curve. Over the week, Treasury yields rose three, 11, and 11 basis points in the two-, 10-, and 30-year sections of the curve.

By comparison, muni yields rose just five and two basis points in the 10- and 30-year sections of the curve - the two-year remained flat for the week. Muni ratios to Treasuries for the 10-year and 30-year fell to below 100%, subsequently.

Munis closed out Friday's trading session unchanged. The benchmark 10-year yield froze at 1.74%.

The 30-year yield held steady at 2.86%. The two-year remained at 0.30% for the 18th consecutive trading session.

Treasuries yields have started the week higher, continuing the upward course they took for most of last week. The benchmark 10-year yield has risen three basis points to 1.80%.

The 30-year and two-year yields have each ticked up one basis point, to 2.96% and 0.31%, respectively.

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