Top-rated municipal bonds finished weaker on Monday, according to traders, with yields on some maturities rising by as much as five basis points.
The yield on the 10-year benchmark muni general obligation rose four basis points to 2.30% from 2.26% on Friday, while the yield on the 30-year increased three basis points to 3.06% from 3.03%, according to the final read of Municipal Market Data's triple-A scale. Yields on shorter maturities were steady to five basis points higher.
Since Election Day, benchmark muni yields have risen as much as 59 basis points. On Tuesday, Nov. 8, the 10-year muni yield stood at 1.71% while the 30-year yield was at 2.54%.
U.S. Treasuries were narrowly mixed on Monday. The yield on the two-year rose to 1.08% from 1.06% on Friday, the 10-year Treasury gained to 2.34% from 2.33%, while the yield on the 30-year Treasury bond decreased to 3.01% from 3.02%.
The 10-year muni to Treasury ratio was calculated at 98.6% on Monday compared to 96.9% on Friday, while the 30-year muni to Treasury ratio stood at 101.8% versus 100.5%, according to MMD.
MSRB: Previous Session's Activity
The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board reported 46,107 trades on Friday on volume of $15.34 billion.
Prior Week's Actively Traded Issues
Revenue bonds comprised 59.44% of new issuance in the week ended Nov. 18, up from 58.86% in the previous week, according to Markit. General obligation bonds comprised 35.51% of total issuance, down from 35.83%, while taxable bonds made up 5.05%, down from 5.31%.
Some of the most actively traded issues by type were from California and North Carolina, according to Markit. In the GO bond sector, the California state 4s of 2035 were traded 20 times. In the revenue bond sector, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Hospital 4s of 2046 were traded 64 times. And in the taxable bond sector, Los Angeles Department of Airports 3.887s of 2038 were traded 45 times.
Previous Week's Top Underwriters
The top negotiated and competitive underwriters of last week included Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, Wells Fargo Securities, Stifel and Piper Jaffray, according to Thomson Reuters data. In the week of Nov. 13-Nov. 19, BAML underwrote $1.29 billion, Morgan Stanley $1.28 billion, Wells Fargo $721.5 million, Stifel $688.9 million and Piper Jaffray $630.2 million.
Primary Market
The muni market doesn't have much supply to work with this week. The $1.04 billion holiday week slate is composed of $897 million of negotiated bond deals and $145 million of competitive bond sales.
JPMorgan is scheduled to price the state of New York Mortgage Agency's $97.62 million of homeowner mortgage revenue alternative minimum tax and non-AMT bonds for institutional investors on Tuesday.
The SONYMA deal is rated Aa1 by Moody's Investors Service.
Several deals which were expected to price last week are now on the day-to-day calendar after post-election market volatility rocked the market.
Among the deals waiting to be priced are New York's Tobacco Settlement's $1.02 billion of bonds, the Public Hospital District No. 1 of King County, Wash.'s $186 million of limited tax general obligation bonds, Montgomery County Municipal Utility District No. 13, Texas' $141 million of road and limited tax refunding bonds and Mississippi's $223 million of GO refunding bonds.
There are no competitive deals larger than $100 million on this week's calendar.
