Munis were slightly cheaper on Tuesday, as U.S. Treasuries weakened in spots and equities ended lower.
Muni yields rose by up to two basis points, depending on the scale. UST yields also cheapened by up to three basis points.
The muni market will be challenging the fairly light September redemptions this week, said Kim Olsan, senior fixed-income portfolio manager at NewSquare Capital.
"I would not be surprised if we see yields jump up a bit" by the end of the week, Olsan said — "especially [if] Treasuries keep backpedaling."
The new-issue calendar is sizable, Olsan said, although around a third of the supply is tied up in deals from New York City and the Alabama Toll Road, Bridge and Tunnel Authority.
"The total number in the market isn't all that much bigger, so I think it's a near-term buying opportunity for the names that might widen out a bit," Olsan said. "Some of the specialty state names [will] probably hang in a little bit better."
CUSIP requests
In August, the aggregate total of identifier requests for new municipal securities — including municipal bonds, long-term and short-term notes, and commercial paper — rose 7.4% from July totals.
On a year-over-year basis, overall municipal volumes were down 4.0% through the end of August.
Texas led state-level municipal request volume with a total of 288 new CUSIP requests in August, followed by New York (166) and California (97).
For the specific category of municipal bonds, there was an increase of 22.7% month-over-month, but requests are down 6.1% year-over-year.
New-issue market
In the primary market Tuesday, Siebert Williams Shank held a one-day retail order period for New York City general obligation bonds. The first tranche, $1 billion of Series 2027B, saw 5s of 2028 at 2.90%, 5s of 2031 at 3.33%, 5s of 2036 at 3.93% and 5s of 2041 at 4.52%.
The second tranche, $323 million of Series 2027-1, saw 5s of 2029 at 3.05%, 5s of 2031 at 3.33% and 5s of 2038 at 4.19%.
In the competitive market, Wisconsin sold to Morgan Stanley $364.73 million of GO bonds, Series 2026B, with 5s of 2028 at 2.66%, 5s of 2031 at 3.04%, 5s of 2036 at 3.56% and 5s of 2038 at 3.87%, callable 5/2036.
