The municipal market woke up Monday to a smattering of bid-wanteds, few participants and few signs of strength or weakness.
Traders reported some offerings at the intermediate and far end of the yield curve, as well as some pre-refundings. But there appears to be no design to them, a trader in New York said.
"There are some bid-wanteds out there," he said. "But there's no pattern as to what's coming out on them at all."
Last week's
"A lot of desks are minimally staffed at this point, and it probably will remain that way for the rest of the year," he said. "If more people were in and watching what was going on with Treasuries, it would be a bit more active. Also, few people have the need to do anything at this point."
New issuance should be miniscule for the week, as the New Year's holiday is expected to drain the market of participants much as the Christmas holiday did the previous week. Less than $1 million of competitive offerings are on tap.
On the demand side, muni bond mutual funds recorded a 31st straight week of outflows, according to Lipper FMI numbers. Weekly reporting funds recorded outflows of $1.49 billion for the week of Dec. 25, against outflows of $1.71 billion one week earlier.
Yields on the Municipal Market Data triple-A scale started the morning steady across the curve.
The triple-A, tax-exempt 10-year closed Friday's session up two basis points to 2.77%. The 30-year ticked up one basis point to 4.20%. The two-year yield was steady at 0.33% for a 30th consecutive session.
Yields on the Municipal Market Advisors benchmark triple-A scale on Friday ticked up one basis point for some maturities between eight and 18 years on the curve. The 10-year remained unchanged at 2.78%. The 30-year slipped one basis point to 4.41%. The two-year held at 0.36%.
Treasury yields have started the day mixed along the yield curve. The benchmark 10-year yield has inched up one basis point to 3.00%.
The 30-year yield has held at 3.93%. The two-year has slipped one basis point to 0.39.
