Municipal bonds finished steady to slightly stronger on Monday, traders said, as yields on some top quality maturities slipped by as much as one basis point. There were no major deals on the calendar in this holiday-shortened week.
The yield on the 10-year benchmark muni general obligation fell one basis point to 1.92% from 1.93% on Friday, while the 30-year yield was unchanged from 2.81%, according to the final read of Municipal Market Data's triple-A scale.
U.S. Treasury bonds were little changed on Monday. The yield on the two-year yield dropped to 0.95% from 0.96% on Friday, while the 10-year Treasury declined to 2.19% from 2.20% and the 30-year Treasury yield was unchanged from 2.91%.
The 10-year muni to Treasury ratio was calculated on Monday at 87.6% compared to 87.8% on Friday, while the 30-year muni to Treasury ratio stood at 96.1% versus 96.7%, according to MMD.
Primary Market
Volume for the Christmas week is scant with only about $73 million of deals on the new issue calendar.
There are just two negotiated deals scheduled – and both are under $40 million. There are only a handful of competitive sales out for bid, none of which is larger than $5 million.
Next week doesn't look to be any better for supply, either, with no negotiated or competitive bond sales over $1 million being offered until after the new year.
On Tuesday, Boenning & Scattergood is expected to price Bucks County, Pa.'s $38 million of water and sewer revenue bonds. The deal is tentatively structured to mature serially from 2016 to 2040.
Loop Capital is scheduled to price the Massachusetts Housing Finance Agency's $24 million of Series A multifamily conduit revenue bonds for the Wood Ridge Homes Project on Tuesday.
The Previous Week's Sectors
Revenue bonds comprised 55.46% of new issuance in the week ended Dec. 18, up from 55.05% in the previous week, according to Markit. General obligation bonds comprised 36.32% of total issuance, down from 36.54%, while taxable bonds made up 8.22%, down from 8.41%.
New York & New Jersey, Texas, and California were some of the most actively quoted names in the week.
On the bid side, the New York & New Jersey Port Authority taxable 4.81s of 2065 were quoted by 13 unique dealers. On the ask side, the North Texas Tollway Authority revenue 5s of 2040 were quoted by 17 unique dealers. And among two-sided quotes, the state of California taxable 7.55s of 2039 were quoted by 17 dealers, Markit said.
