Municipals end slow session ahead of Columbus Day flat; $3.3 billion new deals in short week

By Sheri Kasprzak

New York, Oct. 11 - Municipals ended the week mostly unchanged with very little primary or secondary activity to move the market ahead of what looks to be a slow week shortened by Columbus Day, insiders said.

With just $3.3 billion of upcoming deals to look forward to in the week ahead, activity was very light.

"We're taking a breather, which we probably need," said a trader reached during the afternoon Friday.

"I think with next to no supply pressure next week, a lot is going to hinge upon how Treasuries perform, and that's really up in the air with this shutdown ongoing. It will be an interesting week."

Puerto Rico index down

Meanwhile, the prices of Puerto Rico bonds tracked in the S&P Municipal Bond Puerto Rico index have dropped during the month so far.

A report released Friday by J.R. Rieger, vice president of fixed-income indexes with Standard & Poor's Dow Jones Indices, said the weighted average price of bonds in the index ended at 48.53, down 6.6% for the month to date and down about 25% for the year. The total return of the index is negative 5.61% for the month to date and negative 21.11% for the year to date.

Meanwhile, investment-grade tax-exempt bonds were also in negative territory. The bonds tracked in the S&P National AMT-Free Municipal Bond index saw a negative 0.4% month-to-date return and a negative 3.89% year-to-date return, the report said.

Battery Park City deal ahead

Looking to upcoming offerings, the Battery Park City Authority of New York plans to price $360.33 million of series 2013 senior revenue bonds through Citigroup Global Markets Inc. and Ramirez & Co. Inc.

The deal includes $353,435,000 of series 2013A tax-exempt bonds and $6,895,000 of series 2013B taxable bonds.

Proceeds from the deal will be used to finance capital improvements to Battery Park City and to refund existing debt.

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