All quiet on the muni front as bonds weaken in short trading day

Top-rated municipal bonds finished weaker on Monday in a quiet pre-holiday-shortened trading session. The market will be closed on Tuesday for the Fourth of July.

Volume for the rest of the week is estimated at only $130.4 million, the smallest volume week of 2017.

Secondary market
The yield on the 10-year benchmark muni general obligation rose two basis points to 2.01% from 1.99% on Friday, while the 30-year GO yield increased one basis point to 2.80% from 2.79%, according to the final read of Municipal Market Data's triple-A scale.

Treasuries were weaker on Monday. The yield on the two-year Treasury rose to 1.41% from 1.38% on Friday, the 10-year Treasury yield gained to 2.34% from 2.30% and the yield on the 30-year Treasury bond increased to 2.86% from 2.84%.

The 10-year muni to Treasury ratio was calculated at 85.8% on Monday, compared with 86.5% on Friday, while the 30-year muni to Treasury ratio stood at 97.8% versus 98.2%, according to MMD.

MSRB: Previous session's activity
The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board reported 34,518 trades on Friday on volume of $8.07 billion.

Prior week's actively traded issues
Revenue bonds comprised 54.22% of new issuance in the week ended June 30, up from 53.61% in the previous week, according to Markit. General obligation bonds comprised 39.79% of total issuance, down from 40.58%, while taxable bonds made up 5.99%, up from 5.81%.

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In the GO bond sector, the Jersey City, N.J., 3.375s of 2040 were traded 22 times. In the revenue bond sector, the New York City Transitional Finance Authority 4s of 2044 were traded 66 times. And in the taxable bond sector, the Missouri Health and Educational Facilities Authority 3.652s of 2057 were traded 90 times.

Previous week's top underwriters
The top negotiated and competitive municipal bond underwriters of last week included Morgan Stanley, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Raymond James, Wells Fargo Securities, and Citigroup, according to Thomson Reuters data.

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In the week of June 25 to July 1, Morgan Stanley underwrote $961.8 million, BAML $637.5 million, Raymond James $588.1 million, Wells $564.9 million, and Citi $563.2 million.

Primary market
The week’s bond calendar consists of $46.5 million of negotiated deals and $83.9 million of competitive sales. No deals above $100 million are scheduled.

In the negotiated sector, Citigroup is set to price the biggest deal of the week on Thursday -- Denton, Texas’ $77 million of Series 2017 permanent improvement refunding bonds.

The deal is rated triple-A by Moody’s Investors Service and S&P Global Ratings.

In the competitive arena on Thursday, Stamford, Conn., is selling $30 million of general obligation bonds in two separate sales.

The offerings consist of $25 million of Issue of 2017 Series A GOs and $5 million of Issue of 2017 Series B GOs.

The deals are rated AAA by S&P and Fitch Ratings.

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