Munis were steady to slightly firmer in spots Thursday as U.S. Treasuries and equities were mixed.
Muni yields were bumped up to two basis points, while UST yields were changed up to three basis points.
Thursday was quiet in the muni market as many deals — which did pretty well upon pricing or selling — came to market earlier in the week, said Ron Banaszek, co-head of public finance and lead underwriter at Blaylock Van.
Given the expected supply and the cash available in the marketplace, the buyside has, to some degree, the luxury of being a little more "choosy" and cautious, he said.
"Yes, you have had, for the most part, positive developments in the situation in Iran ... but contract negotiations could break down at any moment," Banaszek said.
Therefore, some investors are still taking a wait-and-see approach, as conditions in the Middle East remain "somewhat fragile," he noted.
Fund flows
Investors added $633.1 million into municipal bond mutual funds in the week ended Wednesday, following $1.188 billion of inflows the prior week, according to LSEG Lipper data.
High-yield funds saw inflows of $65.7 million compared to inflows of $452.5 million the previous week.
Tax-exempt municipal money market funds saw inflows of $3.539 billion for the week ending June 22, bringing total assets to $149.137 billion, according to the Money Fund Report, a weekly publication of EPFR.
The average seven-day simple yield for all tax-free and municipal money-market funds was 2.19%.
Taxable money-fund assets saw $2.572 billion added, bringing the total to $7.763 trillion.
The average seven-day simple yield was 3.34%.
The SIFMA Swap Index was at 2.67% on Wednesday compared to the previous week's 2.59%.
CUSIP requests rise
In May, the aggregate total of identifier requests for new municipal securities — including municipal bonds, long-term and short-term notes, and commercial paper — rose 10.3% versus April.
On a year-over-year basis, overall municipal volumes were down 4.1% through the end of May.
Texas led state-level municipal request volume with a total of 160 CUSIP requests in May, followed by New York (119) and California (98).
For the specific category of municipal bonds, there was an increase of 8.0% month-over-month, but requests are still down 7.5% year-over-year.
New-issue market
In the primary market Thursday, BofA priced for Cabarrus County, North Carolina, (Aa1//AA+/) $177.825 million of limited obligation bonds, Series 2026B, with 5s of 8/2029 at 2.58%, 5s of 2031 at 2.77%, 5s of 2036 at 3.12%, 5s of 2041 at 3.53%, 5s of 2046 at 3.90% and 5s of 2051 at 4.20%, callable 8/2036.
Goldman Sachs priced for the Trustees of Purdue University (Aaa/AAA//) $109.265 million of student facilities system revenue bonds, Series 2026B, with 5s of 7/2027 at 2.46%, 5s of 2031 at 2.79% and 5s of 2036 at 3.17%. callable 1/2036.
