Market Post: Munis Still in Weekend Mode on Quiet Monday

The tax-exempt market opened on a typical quiet note Monday morning as traders said munis traded steady.

"The market is kind of quiet," a New York trader said. He added munis were trading flat.

In the primary market this week, $7.39 billion in issuance is expected, up from last week's revised $6.07 billion. In the negotiated market, $5.13 billion is expected to be priced, up from last week's revised $5.09 billion. On the competitive calendar, $2.26 billion should be auctioned, up from last week's revised $975 million.

Friday, municipal bond scales ended a mixed week one basis point softer.

Yields on the Municipal Market Data triple-A GO scale ended as much as one basis point higher. The 30-year yield rose one basis point to 2.90%. The 10-year yield finished flat at 1.70% for the third session and the two-year closed steady at 0.29% for the 11th session.

Yields on the Municipal Market Advisors 5% coupon triple-A benchmark scale also ended as much as one basis point higher. The 10-year yield increased one basis point to 1.77%. The 30-year closed flat at 3.02% for the second session and the two-year was flat at 0.32% for the 11th session.

Treasuries were slightly stronger. The benchmark 10-year and 30-year yields fell one basis point each to 1.70% and 2.87%, respectively. The two-year was steady at 0.23%.

In economic news, existing home sales fell 0.6% to 4.92 million-unit pace in March. The sales rate fell short of the 5.01 million estimated by economists.

"This report in no way changes our view that the housing market is in recovery," wrote economists at RDQ Economics. "The level of sales is up over 10% versus year-ago levels and every major region has posted an increase on that basis. The rising level of existing home prices should stimulate new construction activity and we expect housing construction to add to real GDP growth this year. Unseasonably cold weather in March may hamper sales activity in the very near term but we also expect rising home prices and low mortgage rates to draw in more buyers over the balance of the year."

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