Yields on top-rated municipal bonds were as much as two basis points stronger at mid-session, traders said, reversing the previous three sessions' downward drift.
The yield on the 10-year benchmark muni general obligation was as much as two basis points stronger from 1.97% on Wednesday, while the 30-year yield was one to three basis points stronger from 2.90%, according to a read of Municipal Market Data's triple-A scale.
Treasury prices were lower. The two-year Treasury yield rose to 0.97% from 0.93% on Wednesday while the 10-year Treasury yield was higher at 2.29% from 2.18% and the 30-year increased to 3.04% from 2.91%.
The 10-year muni to Treasury ratio was calculated on Wednesday at 90.4% from 91.9% on Tuesday, while the 30-year muni to Treasury ratio stood at 99.8% compared to 100.1%, according to MMD.
Primary Market
There were only a few noteworthy deals coming to the market on Thursday, as most of the week's issuance was priced on Tuesday and Wednesday.
The Florida Department of Environmental Protection competitively sold $80.77 million of Florida Forever Series 2015A revenue refunding bonds.
Bank of America Merrill Lynch won the bonds with a true interest cost of 1.98%. The issue was priced as 5s to yield from 0.70% in 2017 to 2.39% in 2026.
The deal was rated Aa3 by Moody's Investors Service and AA-minus by both Standard and Poor's and Fitch Ratings.
Piper Jaffray was expected to price Tahoma School District No. 409, Wash.'s $84.67 million of general obligation bonds. The deal is scheduled to mature serially from 2016 to 2038 and was rated Aa3 by Moody's.
SIFMA Says It's Looking at Infrastructure Issuance
The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association held its 2016 state of the Industry media briefing on Thursday.
John F.W. Rogers, SIFMA Chair and EVP at Goldman Sachs, said the topic of infrastructure bonds was one that the group would be looking at closely in the coming year.
"It's a high priority for us," he said, adding the lack of bonds being issued for infrastructure projects in the United States is of great concern to SIFMA.
SIFMA also said municipal issuers "raised over $334 billion in 2014 to finance important community infrastructure projects including schools, airports and bridges."
According to the newly released SIFMA 2015 Fact Book, there were 7,332 unique issuers who were responsible for a total of 11,039 of bond issues in 2014, a slight dip from 7,653 unique issuers who were responsible for a total of 11,474 of bond issues in 2013, according to Thomson Reuters' data.
Through the third quarter of this year, more than "$316 billion of municipal bonds have been issued, a rise of 36%," according to Kenneth E. Bentsen Jr., SIFMA President and CEO. This was well above the 10-year average of $271.2 billion.
Tax-Exempt Money Market Funds Post Outflows
Tax-exempt money market funds experienced inflows of $617.9 million, bringing total net assets to $246.29 billion in the period ended Dec. 1, according to The Money Fund Report, a service of iMoneyNet.com. This followed an outflow of $114.4 million to $245.68 billion in the previous week.
The average, seven-day simple yield for the 373 weekly reporting tax-exempt funds remained at 0.01% for the 135th straight week.
The total net assets of the 952 weekly reporting taxable money funds rose $2.65 billion to $2.504 trillion in the period ended Dec. 1, after an inflow of $2.26 billion to $2.506 trillion the previous week.
The average, seven-day simple yield for the taxable money funds remained at 0.02% for the 46th week in a row.
Overall, the combined total net assets of the 1,325 weekly reporting money funds decreased $2.03 billion to $2.750 trillion in the period ended Dec. 1, which followed an inflow of $2.15 billion to $2.752 trillion the week before.
Bond Buyer Visible Supply
The Bond Buyer's 30-day visible supply calendar fell $2.48 billion to $7.06 billion on Thursday. The total is comprised of $3.18 billion competitive sales and $3.88 billion of negotiated deals.
MSRB Previous Session's Activity
The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board reported 46,560 trades on Wednesday on volume of $10.927 million.
