With most of the new issues pricing Tuesday, the secondary market took traders' attention Wednesday ahead of the impending Federal Open Market Committee meeting announcement.
Secondary traders said the market felt weaker and Puerto Rico was back in the headlines. Mutual funds continued to liquidate Puerto Rico holdings, pushing prices on some bonds into the 70 cents on the dollar range.
"I just saw Puerto Rico taxables trade at 10.10%," a New York trader said. "It's really busy today with Puerto Rico. Yields are all over the place." This trader said the general market was weaker, too.
One CUSIP of Government Development Bank of Puerto Rico 5.5s of 2020 yielded above 10% on trades of over $100,000.
On Tuesday, yields on the triple-A Municipal Market Data scale ended unchanged. The 10-year and 30-year yields closed flat at 2.74% and 4.33%, respectively. The two-year was steady at 0.43% for the 44th straight session.
Yields on the Municipal Market Advisors scale also ended steady. The 10-year and 30-year yields were unchanged at 2.91% and 4.42%, respectively. The two-year closed unchanged at 0.55% for the 23rd session.
Treasuries pared most of the losses from the morning session. The two-year yield rose two basis points to 0.40% and the benchmark 10-year yield increased one basis point to 2.86%. The 30-year yield fell one basis point to 3.83%.
