The municipal bond market traded weaker, following Treasuries, as traders offered mixed views on Puerto Rico debt following headlines this week.
One New York trader said there was a bid list with "a bunch of Puerto Rico items" of $2 million blocks and bigger out Thursday. Some of the bonds traded. Other traders said sellers had left the market and trading volume of Puerto Rican debt was down.
One CUSIP of Puerto Rico Aqueduct and Sewer Authority 5.25s of 2024 was sold by a customer in a block-size trade at 68.75 or a 10.087% yield. The last block-size trade on the CUSIP was in early May, before the summer's historic municipal bond selloff, when the bonds traded at par.
Another CUSIP of $5 million PRASA 6.125s of 2024 were bought and sold by a customer at 71.62, with a 10.621% yield, and 71.125, or a 10.72% yield. The last time over $1 million of the bonds traded was in May.
Wednesday afternoon, the Massachusetts secretary of the commonwealth William Galvin announced his securities division began an inquiry to determine investors' exposure to Puerto Rico.
On Wednesday, the triple-A Municipal Market Data scale steepened with yields on the short-end falling and yields on the long-end rising. The 10-year and 30-year yields rose two basis points each to 2.56% and 4.14%, respectively. The two-year was steady for the seventh session at 0.37%.
Yields on the Municipal Market Advisors benchmark scale ended as much as three basis points higher. The 10-year yield increased one basis point to 2.72% and the 30-year yield climbed two basis points to 4.30%. The two-year was steady at 0.55% for the second session.
