Indexes Rise a Bit With Market in Holiday Mode

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Most of The Bond Buyer’s weekly indexes increased slightly during this holiday-shortened week, with the market largely inactive and firmly entrenched in the holiday doldrums.

“The activity is so sparse that it’s very difficult to gauge exactly what’s up with the market,” said Michael Pietronico, chief executive officer at Miller Tabak Asset Management.

“It’s not unexpected for the last week or so to be sideways in nature,” he added. “Our expectation is that there will be weakness in early January. But for this week, I’d have to say it’s flat because of the inactivity.”

The new-issue market was largely inactive this week, with only a handful of issuers bringing any transactions to market. The largest single deal to be priced was a $17 million competitive offering from Chautauqua, N.Y. Those public improvement bonds were sold to Roosevelt & Cross Tuesday with a net interest cost of 4.17%.

Ithaca, N.Y., also competitively sold a total of $19 million Tuesday of taxable and tax-exempt debt in two series.

They sold an $11.3 million tax-exempt series to UBS Financial Services and a $7.7 million taxable series to Morgan Keegan & Co.

The Bond Buyer 20-bond index of 20-year general obligation bond yields rose four basis points this week to 4.25%. That is the highest level for the index since Nov. 24, when it was 4.33%. 

The 11-bond index of higher-grade 20-year GO yields also increased four basis points this week, to 3.97%, which is the highest it has been since Dec. 3, when it was also 3.97%.

The revenue bond index, which measures 30-year revenue bond yields, gained one basis point this week to 4.95%. That is the highest level for the index since Dec. 3, when it was 4.98%.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury note rose three basis points this week to 3.79%, which is the highest it has been since June 18, when it was 3.85%.

The yield on the 30-year Treasury bond fell one basis point this week to 4.61%. However, it remained above its 4.42% level from two weeks ago.

The Bond Buyer one-year note index, which is based on one-year tax-exempt note yields, was unchanged this week at 0.49%.

The weekly average yield to maturity on The Bond Buyer’s 40-bond municipal bond index, which is based on 40 long-term municipal bond prices, rose one basis point this week to 5.41%.

This is the highest level for the weekly average yield since the week ended Dec. 3, when it was 5.43%.

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