Little arose to disrupt the holiday lull yesterday and prices were narrowly mixed and the new issue market was dormant
Dealers made some markets among themselves, but the post-Christmas, pre-new Year holiday week left municipals with few buy-side players in attendance. Treasury traders reported and equally dull day.
After a lackluster session, tax-exempt prices were quoted narrowly mixed by session's end.
In secondary dollar bond trading, Los Angeles MTA AMBAC 5 1/4s of 2023 were quoted at 5.38 % bid, 5.35 % offered; New York City Water 5 1/2S of 2019 were at 5.56% bid, 5.54% offered; add Dade County, Fla., 5s of 2013 were 5.25% bid, 5.23% offered.
In other action, Florida MPA 5.10s of 2025 were quoted at 5.35% bid, 5.33% offered; Orange and Orlando FGIC 5 1/8s of 2020 were 5.35% bid, 5.30% offered; and Florida Board of Education 5.20s of 2023 were quoted at 97 3/8-3/4 to yield 5.37%. New York UDC 5 3/8s of 2023 were quoted at 7.72% bid, 5.70% offered.
In light follow-through business, J.P. Morgan Securities freed from syndicate restrictions $128 million Valdez, Alaska, Marine Terminal revenue refunding bonds for the BP Pipelines Inc. project.
In late secondary trading, the 5 3/8s of 2023, the only maturity in the deal, was quoted at 100 1/8 bid, 100 1/4 offered to yield about 5.374%. The bonds were originally priced at par.
In debt futures, traders were disappointed by the Treasury market's performance and sold tax-exempt contracts in sympathy. The March December contract settled down 7/32 at 103.30.
In the short-term note market, yields were unchanged to five basis points higher on the day. In late action, California Rang were quoted at 2.08% bid, 2.00% offered; New Jersey Trans were quoted 2.10% bid, 2.00% offered; New York City Tans were 2.12% bid, 2.05% offered; and Texas Rans were 2.08% bid, 2.00% offered.
Recent demand for California paper has been particularly strong because $2 billion of the state's revenue anticipation warrants matured on Dec. 23. The consequent squeeze in the California sector depressed interest rates by more than the modest declines seen in the broader market.
The remainder of the week is likely to offer little price movement, players said. They said that the market tone remained firm, mainly from a dealer bid for bonds. The Street is anticipating low January issuance arid slightly stronger demand from bond funds, which have some cash available from Jan. I redemptions and various other payments. Reflecting that situation, The Blue List of dealer inventory fell $54.3 million yesterday, to $1.81 billion.
The Bond Buyer calculated 30-day visible supply yesterday at a paltry $2.92 billion. Visible supply has totaled less than $5 billion for seven straight business days.
