Primary bond market

Municipals were stronger Tuesday ahead of this week’s $5 billion new issue calendar.

A trader said lack of follow-through on long new issues continued to plague the market as the weekly calendar shrank to $5B of issuance.

The municipal bond market is prepping for around $5 billion of new issuance in the upcoming holiday-shortened week.

The weekly average yield to maturity of The Bond Buyer Municipal Bond Index, which is based on 40 long-term bond prices, climbed to 4.09% from 4.08% the week before.

Two lone deals priced on Thursday to close out new issuance for the week.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel's administration is interested in a similar structure for a pension obligation bond.

A few remaining municipal bond deals hit screens on Thursday to wind down the week's issuance.

Honolulu plans to price $250 million in GOs for the 20-mile-long elevated rail project.

The primary municipal market chugged along on Wednesday, as the two biggest deals of the week priced.

Capital finance director David Erdman says VRDO fraud lawsuits piqued his interest in Clarity's platform.

While the municipal bond insurers suffered from the curtailment of issuance under newly effective U.S. tax laws, the insurance penetration rate ticked higher.

The top municipal FA's accounted for 20% less volume, as their par amount of deals handled dropped to $273.869 billion from $345.829 billion. The number of transactions fell by 1,199.

The top muni bond counsel firms accounted for $318.67 billion in 8,474 transactions in 2018, down from $407.47 billion in 10,519 deals the year before.

The action continued in the municipal bond primary market, as the two biggest deals of the week were priced.

Municipal bond issuance totaled $320.25 billion in 2018, as New York issuers led the charge.

Municipal bond underwriters suffered from muted issuance under the new tax laws, as Bank of America Merrill Lynch remained on top of the year-end rankings.

Buyer sentiment barely budged as new issuance flooded the muni market on Tuesday.

The bonds will fund the final phase of construction of its new Physical Activity Center.

New deals were rolling in, with timing benefiting issuers as the market firmed.

McDaniel, who joined what was then Salomon Brothers in 1966, became one of Citi's top producers.