Market Post: Status Quo

The municipal bond market continued to stay asleep Tuesday afternoon as traders had a tough time getting back to work after a three-day weekend.

One New York trader pondered how to provide color on a market that's lacking. "There are a number of people who took off last week and are getting back into the grind," he said. "Activity is just slow."

With almost no primary issuance to provide direction, the secondary market struggled. "It looks to me like everyone has comfortable levels of inventory so no one is nervous about what they hold currently. But at the same time, there is not a lot that is driving consumption. Companies aren't coming in that need to buy bonds. So were staying with the status quo," the trader said.

On Friday, the 10-year Municipal Market Data yield and the 30-year yield closed steady at 1.74% and 2.89%, respectively. The two-year closed at 0.29% for the 27th consecutive session.

After strengthening in the morning on poor economic data, Treasuries weakened in the afternoon. The benchmark 10-year yield and the 30-year yield increased one basis point each to 1.58% and 2.69%, respectively. The two-year was steady at 0.23%.

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