The municipal bond market on Wednesday was in full holiday mode ahead of the early market close and the full close on Christmas Day. Not much is expected in the way of activity on Friday either.
Prices of high-quality municipal bonds were lower in morning trade, according to Municipal Market Data.
Primary Market
No bond issues are scheduled for negotiated or competitive sale until after the start of the new year.
Looking ahead to January, Miami-Dade County, Fla., will put out for bid on Jan. 6 three separate competitive sales of general obligation bonds totaling about $372 million. Proceeds from the sales will be used for parks, public health and its "Building Better Communities" program.
Additionally, the Miami Dade County School Board will come to market in the negotiated sector with a $307 million certificate of participation issue. The deal will be priced by Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
Secondary Market
High-grade municipal bond prices were lower on Wednesday. The yield on the benchmark 10-year general obligation was up as much as one basis point from 2.09% on Tuesday, while the yield on 30-year GOs was up as much as one basis point from 2.94% on Tuesday, according to the preliminary read of Municipal Market Data's triple-A scale.
Treasury prices were lower, with the two-year note yield rising to 0.75% from 0.74% on Tuesday. The 10-year yield increased to 2.29% from 2.25% while the 30-year rose to 2.87%, from 2.83% on Tuesday.
MSRB Reports Previous Session's Activity
The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board reported 29,052 trades on Tuesday on volume of $5.062 billion.
Most active on Tuesday, based on the number of trades, was the Bolingbrook, Ill., refunding bonds of 12/29/14 Series A 4s of 2038, which traded 153 times with an average price of 100.358 and an average yield of 3.947%. Second most active was the New Jersey Transportation Trust Fund Authority transportation program bonds, Series AA 4 1/4s of 2044, which traded 99 times with an average price of 99.879 and an average yield of 4.187%.
