It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas: Market gets quiet

The muni market is skidding to a halt from a break-neck issuance filled two weeks, as few notable deals remain on the calendar.

Secondary market
The MBIS municipal non-callable 5% GO benchmark scale was stronger in early trading Thursday morning.

The 10-year muni benchmark yield slid to 2.385% from Wednesday’s final read of 2.386%, according to Municipal Bond Information Services. The MBIS 30-year benchmark muni yield decreased to 2.851% from 2.853%.

The MBIS benchmark index, which is comprised of investment-grade municipal securities, is updated hourly on the Bond Buyer Data Workstation.

U.S. Treasuries were mostly stronger on Thursday morning. The yield on the two-year Treasury held at 1.86%, the 10-year Treasury yield slipped to 2.49% from 2.50% and the yield on the 30-year Treasury fell to 2.87% from 2.88%.

Top-rated municipal bonds were weaker at teh close Wednesday. The yield on the 10-year benchmark muni general obligation was five basis points higher to 2.13% from 2.08% on Tuesday, while the 30-year GO increased to 2.73% from 2.68%, according to a final read of MMD’s triple-A scale.

On Wednesday, the 10-year muni-to-Treasury ratio was calculated at 85.4% compared with 84.5% on Tuesday, while the 30-year muni-to-Treasury ratio stood at 94.9% versus 94.9%, according to MMD.

Tax-exempt money market funds saw inflows
Tax-exempt money market funds experienced inflows of $690.4 million, bringing total net assets to $131.19 billion in the week ended Dec. 18, according to The Money Fund Report, a service of iMoneyNet.com. This followed an inflow of $271.3 million to $130.50 billion in the previous week.

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The average, seven-day simple yield for the 199 weekly reporting tax-exempt funds rose to 0.62% from 0.53% in the previous week.

The total net assets of the 827 weekly reporting taxable money funds decreased $22.62 billion to $2.659 trillion in the week ended Dec. 19, after an inflow of $34.30 billion to $2.682 trillion the week before.

The average, seven-day simple yield for the taxable money funds jumped to 0.85% from 0.76% from the prior week.

Overall, the combined total net assets of the 1,026 weekly reporting money funds decreased $21.93 billion to $2.791 trillion in the week ended Dec. 19, after inflows of $34.57 billion to $2.813 trillion in the prior week.

Bond Buyer 30-day visible supply
The Bond Buyer's 30-day visible supply calendar decreased $1.49 billion to $5.18 billion on Thursday. The total is comprised of $879 million of competitive sales and $4.30 billion of negotiated deals.

Primary market
Bank of America Merrill Lynch is scheduled to price the Virginia Housing Development Authority’s $600 million of rental housing bonds.

RBC Capital Markets is slated to price Butler County, Ohio’s $145 million of hospital facilities revenue refunding bonds for UC Health. The deal is rated Aa2 by Moody’s Investors Service and A by S&P Global Ratings.

Data appearing in this article from Municipal Bond Information Services, including the MBIS municipal bond index, is available on The Bond Buyer Data Workstation. Click here for a brief tour of the Workstation, or contact Vanessa Kim at 212-803-8474 for more information.

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