Bond volume

This is the fourth consecutive month where issuance has topped $50 billion.

Year-to-date volume stands at $310.166 billion, up 17.4% from $264.151 billion at the same time last year, prompting several firms to revisit their supply projections for the year.

The growth of the muni market comes as issuance surges, with the first half of the year seeing $280.64 billion of supply, up 14.3% year-over-year, according to LSEG.

Issuance this year has been "relentless" since the start of the year, while historically the "new-issue machine" takes a while to get rolling, said Scott Diamond, co-head of AM Municipal Fixed Income at Goldman Sachs.

The top five May bond financings totaled more than $5 billion.

Primary bond market volume was up 3.6% year-over-year to $49.9 billion, according to LSEG data.

April's volume was revised upward to $45.825 billion in 727 issues, up 2% from $44.945 billion in 707 issues in the same period in 2024, according to revised LSEG data.

April's volume was $41.178 billion in 660 issues, down 8.4% from $44.945 billion in 707 issues in the same period in 2024, according to LSEG data. This is still above the 10-year average of $35.436 billion.

Yields rose significantly for the fourth time this week as the aftereffects of President Donald Trump's tariffs continue to plague the financial markets.

"It seems like hitting last year's volumes should be within the strike zone for the marketplace," said Kyle Javes, a managing director and head of municipal fixed income at Piper Sandler.

After digit-double cuts out long Wednesday, muni yields rose an additional two to four basis points, depending on the curve, on Thursday.

Issuance remains heavy this week, but while it's elevated, the muni market is "structurally undersupplied," meaning if 2024's record level of $500 billion-plus of issuance was doubled, the market could still digest it quite well, said Wesly Pate, a senior portfolio manager at Income Research + Management.

February's volume was at $33.725 billion in 622 issues, up 1.6% from $33.191 billion in 614 issues in February 2024, according to LSEG data.

Issuance in the Far West was up 30.8% year-over-year to $98.9 billion. Muni market observers say issuers tried to beat the uncertainties of the election.

Volume in the Southeast was up 46% in 2024, led by Florida, where municipal bond sales more than doubled to $27.49 billion.

Issuers in the eight-state region sold $103.3 billion of bonds last year, with Texas deals accounting for $68.13 billion of the debt.

The muni market produced $512.7 billion of debt issuance in 2024, up 33.1% from $385.1 billion in 2023, according to LSEG data. This surpasses the previous record of $484.6 billion in 2020 by almost $30 billion.

Most states and sectors in the region beat their 2023 issuance by wide margins in 2024. 

January's volume was $35.243 billion in 486 issues, up 10.8% from $31.817 billion in 554 issues in 2024, according to LSEG data.

Sizable deals for next week include $1.3 billion of real estate transfer tax revenue bonds from the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority and $996.335 million of second series revenue bonds from the San Francisco International Airport.