Top rated municipal bonds were weaker in early activity, traders said, with yields on some longer-dated maturities strengthening by as much as five basis points.
The yield on the 10-year benchmark muni general obligation was three to five basis points stronger on Thursday from 1.59% on Wednesday, while the 30-year muni yield was stronger by three to five basis points from 2.54%, according to an early read of the Municipal Market Data's triple-A scale.
U.S. Treasuries were also weaker. The yield on the two-year Treasury increased to 0.81% from 0.79% on Wednesday, while the 10-year Treasury yield rose to 1.87% from 1.83% and the yield on the 30-year Treasury bond gained to 2.69% from 2.64%.
The 10-year muni to Treasury ratio was calculated at 84.3% on Tuesday compared with 89.2% on Tuesday, while the 30-year muni to Treasury ratio stood at 94.3% versus 97.5%, according to MMD.
MSRB Previous Session's Activity
The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board reported 39,849 trades on Wednesday on volume of $13.02 billion.
Primary Market
Municipal bond traders are set to see the last of the week's healthy new issue calendar hit the screens on Thursday.
Raymond James is expected to price the Lewisville Independent School District, Texas' unlimited tax refunding bonds. The issue, which is backed by the Permanent School Fund guarantee program is rated triple-A by Standard & Poor's and Fitch Ratings.
Pipe Jaffray is set to price the Central Kitsap School District No. 401, Wash.'s $110 million of Series 2016 unlimited tax general obligation bonds. The deal is backed by the Washington State Credit Enhancement Program and is rated Aa2 by Moody's Investors Service and AA by S&P.
Bank of America Merrill Lynch is slated to price the Stafford County Economic Development Authority, Va.'s $109 million of hospital facilities revenue and refunding bonds for Mary Washington Healthcare. The deal is rated Baa1 by Moody's and triple-B-minus by S&P.
In the competitive arena, the Florida State Board of Education will offer $183.33 million of Series 2016B full faith and credit public education capital outlay refunding bonds. The PECO bonds are rated Aa1 by Moody's and triple-A by S&P and Fitch.
Bond Buyer Visible Supply
The Bond Buyer's 30-day visible supply calendar decreased $736.8 million to $10.63 billion on Thursday. The total is comprised of $4.23 billion of competitive sales and $6.40 billion of negotiated deals.
Tax-Exempt Money Market Funds See Outflows
Tax-exempt money market funds experienced outflows of $2.73 billion, bringing total net assets to $221.60 billion in the week ended April 18, according to The Money Fund Report, a service of iMoneyNet.com. This followed an outflow of $2.34 billion to $224.32 billion in the previous week.
The average, seven-day simple yield for the 314 weekly reporting tax-exempt funds was unchanged from the previous week at 0.04%.
The total net assets of the 903 weekly reporting taxable money funds decreased $31.82 billion to $2.457 trillion in the week ended April 19, after an inflow of $1.11 billion to $2.489 trillion the week before.
The average, seven-day simple yield for the taxable money funds was unchanged at 0.11% from the prior week.
Overall, the combined total net assets of the 1,217 weekly reporting money funds decreased $34.55 billion to $2.679 trillion in the period ended April 19, which followed an outflow of $1.23 billion to $2.714 trillion.
