U.S. 10-Year Muni Yield Highest Since January on Labor Data
February 08, 2012, 6:38 PM ESTBy Michelle Kaske
(Updates yield in second paragraph.)
Feb. 8 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. tax-exempt yields rose a fourth straight day following last week’s stronger-than-forecast U.S. labor report, pushing 10-year interest rates to the highest this month.
Yields on top-rated municipal debt due in 10 years climbed about 8 basis points to 1.85 percent at 5 p.m. in New York, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The yield is the highest since Jan. 27. A basis point is 0.01 percentage point. Bond yields move inversely to prices.
The $3.7 trillion municipal market is seeing some “follow- through” from declines in U.S. Treasuries, said Jason Hannon, a trader at New-York based Arbor Research & Trading Inc., in a telephone interview.
The yield on benchmark U.S. Treasuries due in 10 years reached 2 percent today, the highest since Jan. 25, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
U.S. employers added 243,000 jobs in January and the unemployment rate fell to an almost three-year low of 8.3 percent, the Labor Department said on Feb. 3. The median forecast of economists in a Bloomberg News survey was for a gain of 140,000 jobs.
Interest rates on 10-year municipal securities rated AAA fell to 1.74 percent on Feb. 2, the lowest level since Bloomberg BVAL data began in January 2009.
--Editors: Mark Tannenbaum, Jerry Hart
To contact the reporter on this story: Michelle Kaske in New York at mkaske@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Mark Tannenbaum at mtannen@bloomberg.net
