Prices of top-rated municipal bonds were mixed on Thursday, the last full trading day of the week, with yields unchanged to slightly higher.
The market is preparing for a noon, EDT, close on the Good Friday holiday after the release of the March employment report. Market activity is expected to be minimal on Friday ahead of the Passover and Easter holidays and there are no muni deals scheduled to be sold.
Traders are now looking ahead to the upcoming week when $6.96 billion of new supply is set to come to market. An estimated $5.01 billion of negotiated deals are slated to be priced and about $1.95 billion of competitive offerings are scheduled for sale.
On Thursday, the Board of Regents for Texas A&M University sold two separate issues totaling almost $290 million in the competitive arena.
Secondary Market
Prices of top-quality munis were unchanged to a bit weaker at mid-session. The yield on the 10-year benchmark muni general obligation on Thursday was unchanged from 1.93% on Wednesday, while the yield on 30-year GO was up by as much as one basis point from 2.79%, according to a read of Municipal Market Data's triple-A scale.
Treasury prices were higher on Thursday. The yield on the two-year Treasury note rose to 0.54% from 0.53% on Wednesday, while the 10-year yield increased to 1.89% from 1.87% and the 30-year yield rose to 2.51% from 2.48%.
On Wednesday, the 10-year muni to Treasury ratio was calculated at 103.4% versus 101.6% on Tuesday, while the 30-year muni to Treasury ratio stood at 112.8% compared to 110.2%.
Primary Market
The Board of Regents for Texas A&M University sold two issues totaling $289 million in the competitive arena.
JPMorgan won the $143.555 million of Series 2015A permanent university fund bonds with a true interest cost of 3.1040%. Pricing information was not immediately available.
Wells Fargo won the $145.445 million of Series 2015B taxable permanent university fund bonds with a tic of 2.9843%. Pricing information was not immediately available.
Both issues are rated triple-A by Moody's, S&P and Fitch.
The University last sold bonds competitively on Nov. 13, 2013, when Morgan Stanley won $209 million of Series 2013 permanent university fund bonds with a true interest cost of 2.7867%
The Week's Most Actively Quoted Issues
Puerto Rico and Illinois names were among the most actively quoted issues in the week ended April 3, according to data released by Markit.
On the bid side, the Puerto Rico commonwealth 6s of 2039 were quoted by nine unique dealers. On the ask side, the Puerto Rico commonwealth 8s of 2035 were quoted by nine dealers. And among two-sided quotes, the Illinois 5.1s of 2033 were quoted by 11 dealers, Markit said.
The Week's Most Actively Traded Issues
Among the most actively traded issues in the week ended April 3, were issuers from California and New York, according to Markit.
In the GO bond sector, California 5s of 2026 were traded 21 times. In the revenue bond sector, California's Golden State Tobacco Securitization Corp. 5s of 2045 were traded 109 times. And in the taxable bond sector, the New York City Transitional Finance Authority 5.508s of 2037 were traded 20 times, according to Markit.
Tax-Exempt Money Market Funds Post Outflow
Tax-exempt money market funds had an outflow of $521.6 million, bringing total net assets to $259.47 billion, in the period ended March 30, according to The Money Fund Report, a service of iMoneyNet.com. This followed an outflow of $521.6 million to $259.47 billion in the previous week.
The average, seven-day simple yield for the 396 weekly reporting tax-exempt funds remained at 0.01% for a 100th straight week.
The total net assets of the 991 weekly reporting taxable money funds fell $42.55 billion to $2.418 trillion in the period ended March 31, after experiencing an inflow of $32.79 billion to $2.461 trillion in the prior week.
The average, seven-day simple yield for the taxable money funds remained at 0.02% for the 10th consecutive week.
Overall, the combined total net assets of the 1,387 weekly reporting money funds decreased $44.36 billion to $2.676 trillion in the period ended March 31, which followed an inflow of $32.27 billion to $2.721 trillion in the prior period.
Bond Buyer Visible Supply
The Bond Buyer's 30-day visible supply calendar increased $2.402 billion to $11.651 billion on Thursday. The total is comprised of $3.690 billion competitive sales and $7.961 billion of negotiated deals.
MSRB Previous Session's Activity
The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board reported 40,291 trades on Wednesday on volume of $8.375 billion.
Most active, based on the number of trades, was the New York City Municipal Water Finance Authority's Series GG second general resolution water and sewer system revenue 1 1/8s of 2032, which traded 193 times at an average price of 98.547 with an average yield of 3.224%; (initial offering price of 98.62, an initial offering yield of 3.23%).
