NEW YORK – The municipal market was mostly unchanged today, amid fairly light secondary trading activity.
“We’ve had a firmer week for the most part, but we’re flat today,” a trader in New York said. “It’s a pretty quiet end to the week. There’s not a lot trading, and not a lot of movement at this juncture.”
A trader in San Francisco said that the muni market experienced a good week, but finished it quietly Friday.
“Treasuries are up for the second day in a row, and it’s quiet in taxable muni-land as well,” a trader in San Francisco said. “I would hope to see some back up in the Treasury and some buyers to come in [to municipals] when this backs up a little bit.”
The Treasury market showed some gains today. The benchmark 10-year note was quoted recently at 2.94%, after opening at 2.99%. The 30-year bond was recently quoted at 3.94% after opening at 3.98%. The two-year note was recently quoted at 0.59% after opening at 0.60%.
The Municipal Market Data triple-A scale yielded 2.62% in 10 years and 3.69% in 20 years Thursday, compared to levels of 2.64% and 3.70% Wednesday. The scale yielded 3.98% in 30 years Thursday, compared to 3.99% Wednesday.
Today’s triple-A muni scale in 10 years was at 86.6% of comparable Treasuries and 30-year munis were at 99.0%, according to MMD, while 30-year tax-exempt triple-A general obligation bonds were at 104.7% of the comparable London Interbank Offered Rate.
In economic data released today, consumer prices declined 0.1% in June, the third consecutive monthly decline, as the year-over-year change in prices grew by the smallest amount in eight months.
Core prices, excluding food and energy goods, increased 0.2% with a slight increase in the shelter index.
Economists expected consumer prices to be unchanged for the month and for core prices to increase 0.1%, according to the median estimate from Thomson Reuters.
The University of Michigan's preliminary July consumer sentiment index reading was 66.5, compared to the final June reading of 76.0.
Economists polled by Thomson Reuters had predicted a 75.0 reading for the index.
Activity in the new-issue market was light today.
Visible Supply
The Bond Buyer’s 30-day visible supply rose $1.110 billion to $9.073 billion. The total is comprised of $4.287 billion of competitive bonds and $4.786 billion of negotiated bonds.
Previous Session's Activity
The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board reported 46,685 trades on 14,973 issues for volume of $15.66 billion. Most active was Illinois 7.35s of 2035, which traded 700 times at a high of 105.659 and a low of 99.993.
