Hillary Flynn

Muni investors will have their pick of California bonds coming to market in the primary on Thursday.

Investors who had been keeping their cash on the sidelines as aggressively priced deals hit the market last week and early this week went in on the $225.79 million of Grand River Dam Authority revenue bonds priced by JPMorgan on Wednesday.

Bonds from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey deal priced Tuesday dominated the secondary market on Wednesday after the bonds became free to trade.

The most-traded P3 bonds have rallied this year, and retained gains since the Sept. 22 bankruptcy filing by the manager of the Indiana Toll Road.

Mid-week doldrums may have set in for some investors, but this hump day promises not to be boring, with a slew of deals expected to sell in the primary and the Federal Open Market Committee meeting minutes scheduled for release.

Rather than getting yield by buying in the longer-middle to back-end of the curve as barbell investors typically do, Newtown Square, Pa.-based Veritable is purchasing bonds maturing from five to seven years for the long end of its barbell.

The weekly average yield to maturity of the Bond Buyer Municipal Bond Index, which is based on 40 long-term bond prices, dropped three basis points in the week ending October 2 to 4.40%.

Citigroup said in an interview the sell-off in tobacco bonds caused by Bill Gross' departure from PIMCO will be short lived.

Investors are watching how high-grade deals are priced on Wednesday, because they believe it will set the tone for how similarly rated deals, like the $1.1 billion Texas Transportation Commission offering coming Thursday, will be priced.

Investors are keeping their cash on the sidelines until the week's top deal hits the market, a $1.1 billion sale of Texas Transportation Commission highway improvement general obligation bonds that is scheduled to be priced by JPMorgan Securities on Thursday.

Analysts said that September's volume gain over the same month in 2013's levels is the first sign issuance might be rebounding this year, even though this is not the first time monthly issuance in 2014 has come in higher than the same period in 2013.

"Bond king" Bill Gross' exit from Pimco could cause a sell-off in tobacco bonds backed by the Master Settlement Agreement, market participants said.

Triet Nguyen is starting as a managing director at NewOak on Monday.

Taxable municipal bond sales surged to a five-month high in the past week, attracting yield-hungry investors as tax free spreads tighten.

Green muni bond underwriters are stepping up marketing, with a focus on retail clients, as they compete for a share of the fledgling market.

As spreads on bonds from the recent Detroit Water and Sewer, Chicago Water and Chicago Wastewater deals tighten, some analysts warn these credits might not be as safe as investors think.

As the issuance of green municipal bonds climbs this week, the bonds performance in the secondary market shows mixed results.

Foreign investors' buildup in U.S. municipal bond holdings has heightened significance in the current low-supply high-demand market environment, in which an emerging group of buyers could cause competition for the limited amount of bonds available to spike.

Inflows to municipal bond funds dropped by 58% in the week ending Sept. 17.

The weekly average yield to maturity of the Bond Buyer Municipal Bond Index, which is based on 40 long-term bond prices, was unchanged the week of Sept. 18 at 4.46%.