Wall Street had a rough start this week as selling pressures had major equity indexes posting their worst-one day drop in 2013. Markets, however managed to stage a small rebound as Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke signaled in his testimony to the Senate that the central bank would continue its stimulus policies, quelling fears that the Fed would wind down or scale back its bond-buying program earlier than expected.
Meanwhile, Washington's budget talk session today ended in a stalemate; President Obama said that the automatic round of $85 billion in budget cuts would move ahead after no progress was made in talks between the White House and Republicans. As a result, U.S. Treasuries took on their safe haven appeal once again.
Weekly Overview:
Date | Total Trades | Dollar Volume | $1m+ Trades | S&P National Muni Bond Fund (MUB) Performance |
---|---|---|---|---|
Monday 02/25/2013 | 38,056 | $4,168,886,975 | 873 | -0.04% |
Tuesday 02/26/2013 | 40,102 | $5,383,981,648 | 1262 | 0.05% |
Wednesday 02/27/2013 | 43,895 | $6,588,036,613 | 1680 | 0.18% |
Thursday 02/28/2013 | 42,648 | $6,421,106,170 | 1587 | 0.07% |
Friday 03/01/2013 | 36,159 | $5,206,321,779 | 1222 | -0.04% |
The municipal bond market ended the month with a relatively active week, although the month of February saw significantly less volume as compared to a year prior. Trading volumes did, however, peak on Wednesday. The iShares S&P National Municipal Bond Fund (MUB), which seeks to measure the performance of the investment grade segment of the U.S. muni bond market, continued to trade in a narrow range throughout the week [see more Market Activity].
Most Active Issues This Week
- SHELBY COUNTY OHIO MULTIFAMILY ALCORE SIDNEY LLC PROJECT SERIES A (821662AM5): This issue exchanged hands 164 times on Monday with an average dollar volume coming in at $3,592,000.
- NEW YORK NEW YORK CITY MUNICIPAL WATER FINANCE 2ND GENERAL FISCAL 2013 SERIES CC (64972GBN3): This issue's dollar volume topped an incredible $17,030,000 as investors traded the bond about 128 times on Tuesday. The muni was also the most active issue on Wednesday.
- NEW YORK NEW YORK CITY MUNICIPAL WATER FINANCE 2ND GENERAL FISCAL 2013 SERIES CC (64972GBN3): This issue exchanged hands 284 times on Friday with an average dollar volume coming in at over $101,325,000, making it the most active issue this week.
- CRAWFORDSVILLE TUTTLE SCHOOL BUILDING FIRST MORTGAGE SERIES A2 (225210AC7): On Thursday, this issue's dollar volume came in at $2,245,000 and it traded 105 times.
- UNIVERSITY WISCONSIN HOSPS AND CLINICS SERIES A (915260CD3): This issue exchanged hands 219 times on Friday, logging in an incredible dollar volume of over $67,040,000.
Highest Yielding Issues This Week
- SHELBY COUNTY OHIO MULTIFAMILY TAXABLE-ALCORE SIDNEY LLC PROJECT (821662AN3): This issue clocked in an average yield of 8.5% on Monday.
- PUERTO RICO COMMONWEALTH HIGHWAY AND UNREFUNDED BALANCE SERIES M (7451903D8): This issue boasted the highest average yield of 5.107% and 5.082% during Tuesday's and Wednesday's session, respectively.
- PUERTO RICO COMMONWEALTH REFUNDING PUBLIC IMPROVEMENT SERIES A (74514LB63): This issue yielded 5.169% during Thursday's trading session.
- PUERTO RICO SALES TAX FINANCING FIRST SUBORDINATED SERIES A (74529JHN8): On Friday, this issue's yields came in at 4.033%.
Million Dollar Club
These municipal bonds boasted the largest dollar trade amounts this week, all of which topped $5,000,000.
- BUCKEYE OHIO TOBACCO SETTLEMENT ASSET-BKD SENIOR TURBO SERIES A-2 (118217AP3)
- METROPOLITAN TRANSPORTATION AUTHORITY NEW YORK TRANSPORTATION SERIES A (59259YYF0)
- WASHINGTON ST CERTIFICATES PARTICIPATION TAXABLE-ST AGENCY PERSONAL PROPERTY (939720LG1)
- OREGON ST HOUSING AND COMMUNITY SERVICES VARIOUS AMT-SINGLE-FAMILY MORTGAGE PG-F (686087FY8)
- KENTUCKY ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT FINANCE AUTHORITY REFUNDING REPUBLIC SERVICES INCORPORATE PJ-B (49126RAD8)
3 Articles Municipal Bond Investors Must Read
- Overview of Municipal Bond Market at Investment Quant
- Cities May Buy Back Stimulus Bonds at The Wall Street Journal
- Municipal-Bond Outlook at Morningstar