The municipal market weakened about three basis points Thursday amid moderate secondary trading activity.
“There was a bit of a slowdown in the secondary, though still a decent amount of activity out there,” a trader in Los Angeles said. “We were just playing catch-up after the Treasury sell-off” on Wednesday.
The Municipal Market Data triple-A scale yielded 2.83% in 10 years Thursday, three basis points higher than Wednesday’s 2.80%, while the 20-year scale yielded 4.00%, also up three basis points. The scale for 30-year debt rose three basis points as well, to 4.34%.
“We’re a little bit weaker,” a trader in New York said. “We’re really just picking up from where we left off.”
Thursday’s triple-A muni scale in 10 years was at 94.6% of comparable Treasuries and 30-year munis were at 101.9%, according to MMD. Meanwhile, 30-year tax-exempt triple-A general obligation bonds were at 108.5% of the comparable London Interbank Offered Rate.
The Treasury market also weakened Thursday. The benchmark 10-year note finished at 3.01% after opening at 2.96%, the 30-year bond finished at 4.27% after opening at 4.24%, and the two-year note finished at 0.55% after opening at 0.53%.
In the new-issue market Thursday, Bank of America Merrill Lynch priced $346.4 million of taxable and tax-exempt debt for Honolulu in two series, including $151.1 million of taxable Build America Bonds.
The BABs mature from 2015 through 2035, with yields ranging from 2.776% in 2015, or 1.80% after the 35% federal subsidy, to 6.478% in 2035, or 4.21% after the subsidy, all priced at par. The bonds were priced to yield between 85 and 250 basis points over the corresponding Treasury yields, and are callable at par in 202, except bonds maturing from 2026 through 2030, which contain an unspecified make-whole call.
Bonds from the $195.3 million series of tax-exempt GO bonds mature from 2015 through 2035, with yields ranging from 1.61% with a 5% coupon in 2015 to 4.85% with a 4.75% coupon in 2035. The bonds are callable at par in 2020. They are rated Aa1 by Moody’s Investors Service and AA-plus by Fitch Ratings.
Citi priced $342.6 million of taxable BABs for the District of Columbia. The BABs mature in 2022, 2023, 2026 and 2035. Full pricing information was not available by press time.
The bonds were priced to yield between 105 and 195 basis points over the corresponding Treasury yields and contain an unspecified make-whole call. The credit is rated Aa1 by Moody’s, AAA by Standard & Poor’s, and AA-plus by Fitch.
Wells Fargo Securities priced $332.3 million of taxable and tax-exempt debt for Ohio’s American Municipal Power Inc. in four series. Bonds from the $43.3 million series of traditional taxable bonds mature from 2016 through 2021, with yields ranging from 4.442% in 2016 to 5.672% in 2021, all priced at par.
The bonds were priced to yield between 210 and 270 basis points over the corresponding Treasury yields, and contain an unspecified make-whole call. Bonds from the $260 million series of taxable BABs mature in 2035 and 2050, yielding 7.00% and 7.499% priced at par, or 4.55% and 4.87% after the 35% federal subsidy. The bonds were priced to yield 325 basis points over the 30-year Treasury yield and contain an unspecified make-whole call.
Bonds from the $20 million series of clean renewable energy bonds mature in 2028, yielding 6.849% priced at par. The taxable bonds were priced to yield 260 basis points over the 30-year Treasury yield.
Bonds from the $9 million tax-exempt series mature in 2021, yielding 4.29% with a 5% coupon. The bonds are not callable.
The credit is rated A3 by Moody’s and A by Standard & Poor’s and Fitch.
JPMorgan priced $273.6 million of debt for the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority in two series, including $210 million of taxable BABs. The BABs mature in 2021, 2031, and 2040, yielding 4.546%, 5.769%, and 5.869%, or 2.95%, 3.75%, and 3.81% after the 35% federal subsidy, all priced at par. The bonds were priced to yield 160, 155, and 165 basis points over the corresponding Treasury yields, respectively, and contain a make-whole call at Treasuries plus 25 basis points.
The deal also contains $63.6 million of senior sales-tax bonds, which mature from 2018 through 2020, yielding 2.51%, 2.78%, and 3.00%, all with 5% coupons. These bonds are not callable. The credit is rated Aa1 by Moody’s and AAA by Standard & Poor’s.
Morgan Stanley priced $155 million of taxable BABs for Texas’ Katy Independent School District. The BABs mature from 2022 through 2025, with term bonds in 2030, 2033, and 2041. Yields range from 4.538% in 2022, or 2.95% after the 35% federal subsidy, to 6.349% in 2041, or 4.13% after the subsidy.
The bonds were priced to yield between 155 and 230 basis points over the corresponding Treasury yields. They are callable at par in 2020, except bonds maturing before to 2020, which contain a make-whole call at Treasuries plus 30 basis points.
The debt is backed by the state’s Permanent School Fund guarantee program. The underlying credit is rated Aa2 by Moody’s and AA by Standard & Poor’s.
In economic data released Thursday, initial jobless claims increased more than economists estimated the week ending Nov. 27 as they jumped by 26,000 new filings to 436,000, and pending home sales surged 10.4% to a level of 89.3 in October from 80.9 in September.
