Municipal bond primary market awakens as interest rates continue to fall

Yields in the municipal market fell by as much as 10 basis points Tuesday as issuers begin to test the primary market with dealers opening up their balance sheets after weeks of inactivity.
The Portland School District No. 1J, Multnomah County, Oregon, (Aa1/ AA+/NR/NR) hit the market with a sale that had been postponed from last week.
It was the largest competitive deal seen in several weeks and sources said the deal was well spoken for. The 10-year yielded 1.59% but the largest tranche was $54 million in the one year, 5s of 2021, which were priced at 1.19%, just about 15 basis points above AAA benchmarks.
Several other new issues came to market with yields that fell mostly in line with their credit profiles relative to benchmarks. Citi took indications of interest on Texas Public Finance Authority’s (Aaa/AAA/NR/NR) $472.705 million of Series 2020 taxable general obligation and refunding bonds.
(Read more: The Bond Buyer)