Nearly all of The Bond Buyer’s weekly yield indexes declined this week, as the market firmed up in most of the week’s sessions.
“It was a pretty solid week for munis,” said Evan Rourke, portfolio manager at Eaton Vance. “There’s a lot of reinvestment money still floating around. There’s a little bit of a spread-steepener, but generally the feeling has been pretty good. We’re writing a lot of smaller-size tickets, indicating that individual investors are in there buying bonds.
“Institutionally, a lot has been focused on the new issues, but the new-issue deals have been getting priced fairly to the market without really large concessions, and they’re getting done. Munis have a decent tone, and it should be an interesting quarter-end.”
In the new-issue market this week, the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York came to market with $808.6 million of state personal income tax revenue bonds, priced by JPMorgan and Ramirez & Co. Morgan Stanley priced $392.4 million of bonds for Kentucky, including $209.2 million of taxable Build America Bonds. In the short-term market, Idaho sold $500 million of tax anticipation notes, priced by Seattle-Northwest Securities Corp.
The Bond Buyer 20-bond index of 20-year general obligation bond yields declined seven basis points this week to 4.79%. This is the lowest the index has been since June 4, when it was 4.71%.
The 11-bond index of higher-grade 20-year GO yields also declined seven basis points this week, to 4.53%. This is the lowest the index has been since June 4, when it was 4.45%.
The revenue bond index, which measures 30-year revenue bond yields, declined one basis point this week to 5.77%, but it remained above the 5.76% level it reached two weeks ago.
The 10-year Treasury note yield dropped 31 basis points this week to 3.54%. This is the lowest the yield has been since May 21, when it was 3.36%.
The 30-year Treasury yield declined 30 basis points this week to 4.33%. It has not been lower since May 21, when it was 4.31%.
The Bond Buyer one-year note index, which is based on one-year tax-exempt note yields, rose one basis point this week to 0.67%. This is the highest the index has been since May 20, when it was 0.74%.
The weekly average yield to maturity on The Bond Buyer 40-bond municipal bond index, which is based on long-term bond prices, declined three basis points this week to 5.44%. That was the lowest weekly average for the yield to maturity since the week ended June 4, when it was 5.42%.