The municipal bond market was quiet on Monday as few deals are scheduled for this holiday-shortened week. At mid-session, prices of high-grade municipal bonds were unchanged, according to Municipal Market Data.
Primary Market
Total long-term issuance is forecast to plunge to $27.6 million this week from $5.05 billion last week.
An estimated $21.9 million is expected for negotiated sale, according to Ipreo LLC and The Bond Buyer while competitive sales are expected to total $5.7 million.
A $245 million Colorado tax and revenue anticipation note sale was won by JPMorgan Securities with a true interest cost of 0.100%. No other information was available.
Meanwhile, the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York has scheduled a $1 billion bond sale in a negotiated transaction for January.
DASNY plans to offer $1 billion of general purpose state personal income tax revenue bonds. A group including Barclays, Citigroup and Rice Financial Products is slated to price the bonds.
Proceeds of the sale will be used to refund various outstanding issues.
Investors will be looking out for fresh paper post-holiday, traders said.
"Early in the new year it will be a heavy re-investment period," said a Virginia trader. "I am very optimistic about the market in the New Year because the demand is there, there will be more cash in the system and I am expecting the Treasury to be maybe a bit choppy, but flat and stable. It is hard to put a negative spin on it."
Also in January, Washington state will offer about $941 million of bonds in four separate competitive sales. The sales on Jan. 21 will consist of $464.52 million various purpose general obligation refunding bonds, $270 million various purpose GOs, $206 million motor vehicle fuel tax GOs, and $58 million taxable GOs.
And on Jan. 6, Miami-Dade County, Fla., will put out for bid three competitive sales of general obligation bonds totaling $372 million. Proceeds from the sale will be used for parks, public health and the "Building Better Communities" program.
Secondary Market
Prices of high-grade municipal bonds were unchanged on Monday. The yield on the benchmark 10-year general obligation was steady at 2.08% from Friday's read, while the yield on 30-year GOs remained at 2.92%, according to a midday read of Municipal Market Data's triple-A scale.
Treasury prices were lower, with the two-year note yield rising to 0.66% on Monday from 0.64% on Friday. The 10-year yield is up to 2.18% from 2.16% while the 30-year is higher at 2.78% from 2.76% on Friday.
The 10-year muni-to-Treasury ratio was calculated on Friday at 95.9% versus 95.9% on Thursday; the 30-year muni to Treasury ratio was at 105.4%, compared with 105.4% on Thursday.
MSRB: Previous Session's Activity
The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board reported 30,561 trades on Friday on volume of $7.476 billion.
Most active on Friday, based on the number of trades, were the New Jersey Transportation Trust Fund Authority transportation program bonds, Series AA 4 1/4s of 2044, which traded 205 times with an average price of 99.459 and an average yield of 4.256%.
Aaron Weitzman contributed to this report.
