NEW YORK – The California municipal market was largely flat but carried a firmer tone amid fairly light secondary trading activity Monday.
“There is still a firmer tone out there,” a trader in Los Angeles said. “There wasn’t a whole lot of movement today though. We’re probably up a basis point or two more in the belly of the curve, but it’s pretty flat overall.”
The Treasury market showed mild losses Monday. The benchmark 10-year note was quoted recently at 3.00% after opening at 2.99%. The 30-year bond was recently quoted at 4.02% after opening at 4.01%. The two-year note was recently quoted at 0.60% after opening at 0.59%.
The Municipal Market Data triple-A scale yielded 2.57% in 10 years and 3.67% in 20 years Friday, matching levels of 2.57% and 3.67% Thursday. The scale yielded 3.97% in 30 years Friday, matching 3.97% Thursday.
Monday’s triple-A muni scale in 10 years was at 85.7% of comparable Treasuries and 30-year munis were at 98.5%, according to MMD, while 30-year tax-exempt triple-A general obligation bonds were at 105.3% of the comparable London Interbank Offered Rate.
In economic data released Monday, new homes sales increased 23.6% in June to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 330,000, snapping back from a record low number of sales in May, as the number of new homes for sale dropped to the lowest level in almost 42 years.
New home sales in May were revised lower to 267,000 from 300,000 reported last month. Records for this series date back to 1963. June’s figure was the second lowest total on record.
Economists expected 320,000 new home sales for the month, according to the median estimate from Thomson Reuters.
Previous Session's Activity
The most actively traded security in the state yesterday was California 5s of 2032, which traded 58 times at a high of 101.323 and a low of 97.759.
