Oliver Renick

After almost a month of rallying, municipal bonds continued to soften Tuesday as investors looked toward a Federal Open Market Committee meeting Wednesday in which the government could announce updates to its tapering program.

Yields on municipal bonds are bouncing up after reaching a bottom as a result of a three-week rally, traders speculated.

Municipal bond yields were mixed Tuesday morning as investors waited for primary market issuance. Secondary trading continued to offer the best prices on bonds, traders said.

Municipal bonds stalled Monday as traders waited to see how primary issuance and a Federal Reserve meeting would affect the market following a weeks-long rally.

Municipal bonds lost steam Monday afternoon as yields edged up before the onset of two of the week's biggest negotiated deals.

Municipal bond traders Monday said the week's largest deals, set for retail pricing on Monday, will help market participants gauge how much of January's rally has been a result of a lack of issuance.

Lack of new bonds and persisting economic woes drove municipal yields down Friday, capping a three-week really that gave bonds the strongest start to a year since 2009.

The rally municipal bonds began in the first week of January extended through the week ending Jan. 24, with limited supply forcing traders to take bonds at low yields.

Yields on municipal bonds remained lower Friday afternoon, as scant issuance meant high prices and economic concerns about the world economy pushed investors out of equities.

Municipal bonds extended a three-day rally Friday morning as investors looked for safer bets for their money in the wake of plummeting equities and currency markets.

Bond Buyer indexes slid for the third week in a row.

Municipal bond yields slid Thursday as new issue sales weren't enough to slow weeks-long firming in bond prices. Treasuries rallied as the U.S. economic picture remained dubious following jobless claims and home sales reports.

The supply-demand relationship in the municipal market is skewed in favor of issuers, even as some sizeable deals trickled into the market Thursday, said U.S. Bank's Dan Heckman.

Municipal bonds rallied into Thursday morning as weak data, aside from the initial jobless claims report, boosted Treasuries.

Bond insurance reached the lowest level since the financial crisis last year, even as the industry's market penetration began to rise.

Municipal bond yields continued a two-day slide into Friday. Puerto Rico paper was stable to firmer, even after reports suggested that creditors were discussing a possible restructuring of the commonwealth's debt.

Municipal bonds continued to rally the past week, with U.S. economic data suggesting a slow recovery just as mutual funds showed renewed investor interest in tax-exempt bonds

Yields on municipal bonds remained down into Friday afternoon as demand for new bonds drove prices in secondary trading.

Municipal bond yields continued to shed basis points Friday morning after seeing losses earlier in the week.

The Bond Buyer's weekly yield indexes plunged in the week ended Jan. 16.