Markets

The Employment Trends Index increased 0.74 percentage points in December to 107.10 from a revised 106.36 in November, The Conference Board reported on Monday.

Municipal bond traders are back at work in earnest as they get set to take on a new issue slate dominated by competitive sales on Tuesday and taxable deals on Wednesday and Thursday.

The Iowa Fertilizer Co. LLC is seeking a tender exchange for up to $435 million of bonds.

The municipal bond market is looking ahead to a $3.3 billion new issue slate that will be dominated by competitive sales from Massachusetts and taxable negotiated deals.

Newly issued Treasury securities held in stripped form increased about $1.518 billion in December to a total of $262.102 billion, the Bureau of the Public Debt reported Friday.

The par value of muni underwriting fell for the top five firms as volume receded from the 2016 record.

The municipal bond market is looking ahead to next week’s $3.3 billion new issue slate which is dominated by GO sales from Massachusetts and taxable negotiated deals.

The weekly average yield to maturity of the Bond Buyer Municipal Bond Index fell 10 basis points to 3.81% in the week ended Jan. 4, from 3.81% in the previous week. The BB40 Index is based on the price of 40 long-term bonds.

The value of new factory orders rose by 1.3% in November, slightly larger than the expected 1.1% increase in an MNI survey.

The U.S. services sector expanded in December as the non-manufacturing business activity composite index was 55.9.