Primary bond market

Retail investors get first crack at California's general obligation bonds priced on Tuesday.

After a typically quiet Monday for municipals, market participants are eagerly awaiting the commencement of this week's new issue slate, which is led by California's $2.1 billion offering.

Municipal investors have been supply starved but will get just what the doctor ordered; a nice big dose of supply. The mini surge will feature two billion dollar deals – one of the high grade variety and the other more of a high yield deal. With volatility in the atmosphere and big deals few and far between, investors should jump to grab the paper since who knows when the next big deal is coming.

Municipals were sleepy on Monday, typical for the asset class after a quiet trading session on Friday where they outperformed Treasuries; some investors were looking ahead to the upcoming week’s supply, led by a pair of billion dollar deals from California and Oklahoma issuers.

Investors will be rewarded for their patience with the year's biggest weekly issuance calendar, including a deal from the market's No. 1 issuer.

While the mood remained tentative on the last day of the week, the municipal market looks forward to the upcoming $7.5 billion of new supply headed its way.

In the week ended March 1, the weekly average yield to maturity of the Bond Buyer Municipal Bond Index was unchanged from 4.01% the previous week. The BB40 Index is based on the price of 40 long-term bonds.

Municipal bonds held firm Thursday as one trader urged buyers to find opportunities by using an old basketball offensive philosophy.

Municipal bonds were trading firmer Thursday as the last of the week's big deals came to market.

Municipal bond buyers welcomed several big deals on Wednesday as demand outpaced new bond supply.

Chicago is seeking $4 billion in initial borrowing authority to launch its overhaul of the airport's terminals.

The light month for long-term municipal bond volume is another ripple effect of the new tax law and the issuance rush leading up to its enactment.

Playing a waiting game on Wednesday, portfolio managers were looking for volume to normalize.

Federal Reserve Board Chair Jerome Powell’s testimony before Congress was perceived by some market participants as increasing the possibility of a tighter monetary policy.

Fed Chair Powell's Congressional testimony failed to move municipal bond prices ahead of this week's new issue slate.

With the airport's runways updated, Chicago is now aiming to modernize its terminals.

Former New York City Comptroller William Thompson, now a partner at Siebert Cisneros Shank & Co., discusses his firm’s success in 2017 and looks ahead to an uncertain market landscape for 2018. “We’re all unsure, we’re all holding our breath … everybody on the Street looks at 2018 as a down year ... 2018 is going to be a challenging year for everyone.” Chip Barnett hosts.

The municipal bond market is expected to give a warm reception to variety of new issues in the smaller-than-average $4.8 billion calendar.

Bernalillo County and Albuquerque both can issue industrial revenue bonds, but over the past five years, the county has approved 26 such proposals to none from Albuquerque.

The municipal bond market will see $4.8 billion of bonds fly in this week topped by deals from Baltimore County, Alabama Black Belt Gas and the New York State Thruway along with two airports offerings from Houston and Los Angeles.A smorgasbord of bonds is heading our way this week. The new-issue deal calendar stands at $4.8 billion.Baltimore County, Maryland, headlines the slate with four competitive sales of notes and bonds totaling $837 million.Alabama's Black Belt Energy Gas District will sell a $650 million offering.The New York State Thruway Authority will also make a splash with a $600 million deal.And two airport deals -- a $435 million sale from Houston, and a $376 million offering from Los Angeles -- are also making waves.