NEW YORK - The Califorina municipal market was unchanged Wednesday amid fairly light secondary trading activity ahead of Thursday's Thanksgiving Day holiday.
"There's been a lot of volatility the last few weeks, but this day was just a non-issue," a trader in Los Angeles said. "There weren't that many people around, and those that were around weren't doing all that much. I'd call it totally unchanged, but expect the activity to pick right back up next week."
The Municipal Market Data triple-A scale yielded 2.82% in 10 years Wednesday, unchanged from Tuesday, while the 20-year scale yielded 3.97%, also even with Tuesday. The scale for 30-year debt remained flat at 4.31% Wednesday.
Wednesday's triple-A muni scale in 10 years was at 96.9% of comparable Treasuries and 30-year munis were at 100.7%, according to MMD. Meanwhile, 30-year tax-exempt triple-A general obligation bonds were at 108.6% of the comparable London Interbank Offered Rate.
The Treasury market was weaker Wednesday. The benchmark 10-year note was quoted recently at 2.93% after opening at 2.78%. The 30-year bond was quoted recently at 4.30%, after opening at 4.19%. The two-year note was quoted recently at 0.54% after opening at 0.45%.
In economic data released Wednesday, durable goods orders dropped 3.3% in October, the largest decline since January 2009.
Orders excluding transportation goods fell 2.7%, the largest drop since March 2009. New orders excluding defense spending slumped 2.1%.
Economists expected durable goods would be flat for the month with orders excluding transportation increasing 0.6%, according to the median estimate from Thomson Reuters.
Initial jobless claims dropped to 407,000 for the week ending Nov. 20, the lowest level since the week ending July 19, 2008.
Continuing jobless claims fell for the fifth straight week to 4.182 million, the lowest level since the week ending Nov. 22, 2008.
Economists expected 435,000 initial jobless claims and 4.280 million continuing jobless claims, according to the median estimate from Thomson Reuters.
New home sales fell 8.1% in October to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 283,000, the lowest level in three months.
Sales for September were revised slightly higher to 308,000 from the 307,000 reported last month. Sales for August were revised down to 275,000 from 288,000, a record low dating back to 1963.
Economists expected 310,000 sales for the month, according to the median estimate from Thomson Reuters.
The University of Michigan's final November consumer sentiment index reading was 71.6, compared to the preliminary November 69.3 reading. Economists polled by Thomson Reuters had predicted a 69.5 reading for the index.
Previous Session's Activity
The most actively traded security in the state yesterday was California 5s of 2025, which traded 672 times at a high of 101.954 and a low of 99.495.
