Munis mixed at midday

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Municipal bonds were trading mixed in mid-session activity as more supply came to market.

Secondary market
Municipal bonds were mixed on Wednesday, according to a midday read of the MBIS benchmark scale. Benchmark muni yields dipped as much as one basis point in the five- to seven-year, 10- to 13-year and 20- to 24-year maturities, rose as much as a basis point in the one- to three-year, 14- to 19-year and 26- to 30-year maturities and remained unchanged in the four-year, nine-year and 25-year maturities.

High-grade munis were also mixed, with yields calculated on MBIS' AAA scale falling as much as one basis point in the five- to eight-year, 10- to 13-year and 19- to 29-year maturities, rising as much as two basis points in the one- to four-year, nine-year, 14- to 17-year and 30-year maturities and remaining unchanged in the 18-year maturity.

Municipals were mixed on Municipal Market Data’s AAA benchmark scale, which showed the yield on the 10-year muni general obligation remaining steady while the yield on the 30-year muni maturity rose as much as two basis points.

Treasury bonds were stronger amid continued stock market volatility. The Treasury 30-year was yielding 3.141%, the 10-year yield stood at 2.904%, the five-year was at 2.760%, the two-year was at 2.770% while the Treasury three-month bill stood at 2.425%.

On Tuesday, the 10-year muni-to-Treasury ratio was calculated at 83.6% while the 30-year muni-to-Treasury ratio stood at 100.1%, according to MMD. The muni-to-Treasury ratio compares the yield of tax-exempt municipal bonds with the yield of taxable U.S. Treasury with comparable maturities. If the muni/Treasury ratio is above 100%, munis are yielding more than Treasury; if it is below 100%, munis are yielding less.

Primary market
Wells Fargo Securities received the written award on the Washoe County, Nev.’s $183.24 million of Series 2018 highway revenue (fuel tax) refunding bonds.

The deal is rated Aa3 by Moody’s Investors Service and AA by S&P Global Ratings.

RBC Capital Markets received the official ward on the Public Finance Authority of Wisconsin’s $147.68 million of Series 2018 student housing revenue bonds for CHF-Wilmington, LLC-University Of North Carolina At Wilmington Project.

The deal is insured by Assured Guaranty Municipal and rated A2 by Moody’s and AA by S&P.

Bond Buyer 30-day visible supply at $7.67B
The Bond Buyer's 30-day visible supply calendar decreased $2.63 billion to $7.67 billion for Wednesday. The total is comprised of $1.54 billion of competitive sales and $6.13 billion of negotiated deals.

Previous session's activity
The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board reported 48,272 trades on Tuesday on volume of $14.26 billion.

California, New York and Texas were the municipalities with the most trades, with the Golden State taking 16.056% of the market, the Empire State taking 12.41% and the Lone Star State taking 10.114%.

Data appearing in this article from Municipal Bond Information Services, including the MBIS municipal bond index, is available on The Bond Buyer Data Workstation. Click here for a brief tour of the Workstation, or contact Ziad Saba at 212-803-6079 for more information.

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