Kate Smith

Oppenheimer is set to return to court on Wednesday afternoon to defend a motion to add to the list of defendants in its complaint against the Rhode Island Tobacco Settlement Financing Corporation.

After picking up intense interest this morning, the Niagara Tobacco deal terminated its order period after just 18 minutes, leading the market to believe the already "expensive" yields will be reduced further in a repricing this afternoon.

Municipal bonds buyers will be waiting for Wednesday for activity in the primary and secondary to pick up as a bulk of the week's deals are scheduled to price.

California paper, ranging from state general obligation bonds to local school districts, dominated the secondary trading. Trading believed the popularity to be driven from a light primary, where institutional investors were limited and retail was the predominate player.

Oppenheimer squared off against the Rhode Island Tobacco Settlement Financing Corp. at a state court hearing Monday as the fund company sought to block a $593 million tobacco bond refunding sale originally slated for early August.

The recently issued Texas tax ancipation revenue notes strengthened in secondary trading throughout the week, demonstrating the market’s insatiable appetite for protection against rising interest rates.

Traders are hopeful that Wednesday's strong market will spark municipal scales to follow the Treasury rally. Detroit's Water and Sewer Department deal was one of a handful of large deals to price in Wednesday's primary market.

Traders found value in the state of Maryland's intermediate duration maturities during trading Wednesday morning amid heavy interest in the short end of the curve as evidenced through Tuesday's $5.4 billion Texas note deal.

The not-for-profit healthcare sector's operating revenue growth hit an all-time low last year as a national shift toward outpatient and preventative care led to a decline in in-patient visits, according to a report from Moody's Investors Service.

Investors will probably pile into the $5.4 billion short-term Texas deal on Tuesday thanks to a light primary calendar and the looming threat of rising interest rates.

A $106 million public works commission bond deal from Fayetteville, N.C., will top Tuesday's primary calendar after a $5.4 billion short-term Texas deal.

Traders will be forced outside of their comfort zone this week and next as yield and supply become more sparse. Spread compression has created cheap borrowing environments for obligors like Robert Woods Johnson of New Jersey.

In a market starved for supply, yields have tightened to the point where sector differentiation has all but disappeared, leaving investors with risky investments and no reward.

The market priced Friday morning's Washington Health Care Facility's Authority deal in line with a general obligation deal despite it being a hospital revenue deal. The market's tight supply has all but eliminated sector-differentiated spreads.

The week's primary market will end just as it began: sleepy and hungry for yield.

The Bond Buyer Indexes strengthened for the week ending Aug. 21.

Despite intense popularity for the short end of San Diego's Transportation deal, the Municipal Market Data triple-A 5% scale remains unscathed, with just strengthening in the long end.

Eager to hedge themselves against rising rates traders fought aggressively for San Diego's Regional Transportation Commission deal on Thursday morning to push rates as much as 17 basis points tighter than the Municipal Market Data triple-A 5% scale.

The Lutheran Village at Miller's Grant continuing care retirement community (CCRC) project will give traders a chance to catch yield this week, if buyers are able to overlook the sector's sordid past.

Today’s FOMC minutes indicated interest rate may be rising sooner than anticipated, favoring traders who have protected themselves by investing in floating rate debt, like today’s Kansas Department of Transportation deal.