The municipal bond market seemed to be purely driven by Treasuries Tuesday afternoon as traders said that without a Treasury rally, the market would not have as much confidence.
"Basically you see the 10-year Treasury going below 1.90% so pretty much it's the same game and everyone is following the Treasury run-up," a New York trader said.
Still, the primary market took most of traders' attention and was fairly well received. "We are all looking at the primary," he said. "Institutions have money and they are involved. Retail is still quiet. There are not a lot of believers but it's almost as if they are forced to participate."
He added that the market feels one basis point stronger, but only because of Europe. "We were getting weaker then bang, Cyprus happens and here we are."
The biggest deals of the week started to hit the primary. JPMorgan priced for retail $1.4 billion of New Jersey Turnpike Authority turnpike revenue bonds, rated A3 by Moody's Investors Service, A-plus by Standard & Poor's and A by Fitch Ratings. Details were not available by press time.
"The New Jersey deal did OK," this trader said. "That looks attractive. It's the magic of the 4% coupons and New Jersey also has not had a ton of supply."
Wells Fargo Securities took retail orders for a second day on $900 million of New York City Transitional Finance Authority tax-exempt, future tax-secured subordinate revenue bonds, rated Aa1 by Moody's Investors Service and AAA by Standard & Poor's and Fitch Ratings. Institutional pricing is expected Wednesday.
In the second retail order period Tuesday, yields on the first series, $650 million of tax-exempt subordinate bonds, ranged from 0.54% with a 4% coupon in 2016 to 3.83% with a 4% coupon in 2039. Bonds maturing in 2015 were offered via sealed bid. Credits maturing between 2025 and 2030 were not offered for retail. The bonds are callable at par in 2023. Yields were lowered as much as three basis points from the first retail pricing Monday.
Yields on the second series, $72 million of future tax secured tax-exempt subordinate bonds, ranged from 0.44% with a 4% coupon in 2015 to 2.91% with a 5% coupon in 2028. Credits maturing in 2013 and 2014 were offered via sealed bid. The bonds are callable at par in 2023. Yields were cut as much as four basis points from the first retail pricing Monday.
Yields on the third series, $178 million of future tax secured tax-exempt subordinate bonds, ranged from 0.44% with a 4% coupon in 2015 to 3.42% with a 3.25% coupon in 2031. Credits maturing in 2014 were offered via sealed bid. The bonds are callable at par in 2023. Yields were cut as much as four basis points from the first retail pricing.
Barclays held preliminary pricing on $437.3 million of State Public Works Board of California lease revenue bonds, following a retail order period Monday. The bonds are rated A2 by Moody's, A by Standard & Poor's, and BBB-plus by Fitch.
Yields on the first series, $344.6 million of lease revenue bonds for the Judicial Council of California, ranged from 1.06% with a 3% coupon in 2017 to 4.06% with a 5% coupon in 2038. The bonds are callable at par in 2023. Yields were lowered as much as four basis points on maturities inside 2023 from retail pricing but were increased one basis point on the 2026 maturity.
Yields on the second series, $15.4 million of lease revenue bonds for the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, ranged from 0.40% with a 3% coupon in 2014 to 3.91% with a 3.75% coupon in 2028. The bonds are callable at par in 2023. Yields were lowered as much as three basis points on maturities inside 2022 but were raised one and two basis points on maturities between 2025 and 2028.
The third series, $77.3 million of lease revenue bonds for the Regents of the University of California, were rated Aa2 by Moody's, AA-minus by Standard & Poor's and AA by Fitch. Yields ranged from 0.81% with a 2% coupon in 2017 to 3.66% with a 5% coupon in 2038. The bonds are callable at par in 2023. Yields were increased as much as four basis points on bonds maturing outside of 2025.
Morgan Stanley priced $175.2 million of University of Delaware revenue bonds, rated Aa1 by Moody's and AA-plus by Standard & Poor's.
Yields on the first series of $115.9 million ranged from 0.30% with a 3% coupon in 2014 to 3.36% with a 5% coupon in 2043. The bonds are callable at par in 2023.
The second series of $59.3 million of variable rate revenue bonds were priced at par to yield 0.70% in 2037.
In the competitive market, Citi won the bid for $138.9 million of triple-A rated Howard County, Md., bonds.
Yields on the first series, $99.8 million of consolidated public improvement bonds, ranged from 0.20% with a 3% coupon in 2014 to 3.06% with a 4% coupon in 2033. The bonds are callable at par in 2021. The 5% coupons bonds maturing between 2016 and 2022 were priced right on the Municipal Market Data scale.
Yields on the second series, $39 million of metropolitan district project bonds, ranged from 0.20% with a 3% coupon in 2014 to 3.592% with a 3.5% coupon in 2038. The bonds are callable at par in 2021.
On Monday, yields on municipal bond market scales ended lower for the first time in several weeks.
Yields on the Municipal Market Data triple-A GO scale ended as much as four basis points lower. The 10-year and 30-year yields fell three basis points each to 1.97% and 3.11%, respectively. The two-year finished flat at 0.31% for the 20th consecutive session.
Yields on the Municipal Market Advisors 5% coupon triple-A benchmark scale ended as much as three basis points lower. The 10-year and 30-year yields fell two basis points each to 2.01% and 3.20%, respectively. The two-year held at 0.33% for the 15th session.
Treasuries continued to climb higher Tuesday afternoon. The benchmark 10-year yield dropped five basis points to 1.90% while the 30-year yield plummeted seven basis points to 3.12%. The two-year was steady at 0.25%.
