After a quiet start to the week, the municipal bond market was strong and busy Wednesday as the majority of the week's largest deals were expected to price.
Traders said despite the increased supply there were no signs of weakening in the market. "Deals seem like they are aggressively priced across the board," a Chicago trader said. "The market is not really showing any signs of weakness with this supply."
He added that trading further down on the credit scale is still focused on quality paper. "Some large blocks of long clean healthcare are going away this morning," the trader said. "There is not much in lower-rated to speak of yet."
In the primary market, Bank of America Merrill Lynch priced $2 billion of tax-exempt New Jersey Economic Development Authority school facilities construction refunding bonds, rated A1 by Moody's Investors Service and A-plus by Standard & Poor's and Fitch Ratings.
Yields on the first series of $1.63 billion, ranged from 1.27% with a 2% coupon in 2018 to 2.99% with a 5% coupon in 2031. The bonds are callable at par in 2023.
Bond in the second series, $380.5 million of SIFMA index notes, were priced at par with 125 basis points above the SIFMA index in 2025, 155 basis points above the SIFMA index in 2027, and 160 basis points above the SIFMA index in 2028. The bonds are callable at par in 2023 except bonds maturing in September 2025 which are callable at par in March 2025.
B of A Merrill also priced $250.3 million of federally taxable bonds for the Authority. The bonds were priced from 45 basis points above the comparable Treasury yield in 2015 to 95 basis points above the comparable Treasury in 2018.
JPMorgan is expected to price $301.5 million of Houston Independent School District, Texas, bonds. The pricing will consist of $204.2 million of limited tax schoolhouse and refunding bonds and $97.2 million of limited tax refunding bonds, rated triple-A with a guarantee from the Permanent School Fund. The district is located in Harris County.
Wells Fargo Securities should price for retail $284.6 million of California's Adventist Health System revenue bonds. Institutional pricing ix expected Thursday.
In the competitive market, Washington is expected to auction $1.23 billion of general obligation bonds, rated Aa1 by Moody's and AA-plus by Standard & Poor's and Fitch. The pricing consists of four parts: $551.9 million, $323.5 million, $230.6 million, and $125.4 million.
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey should auction $350 million of revenue bonds, rated Aa3 by Moody's and AA-minus by Standard & Poor's and Fitch.
After a three-day weekend, the Municipal Market Data scale ended flat on Tuesday. The 10-year and 30-year yields finished steady for the third session at 1.67% and 2.72%, respectively. The two-year finished steady at 0.33% for the fifth session.
Treasuries were stronger Wednesday morning after closing firmer Tuesday. The benchmark 10-year yield fell two basis points to 1.82% while the 30-year yield dropped one basis point to 3.01%. The two-year was steady at 0.25%.
