Municipal volume is expected to exceed $8 billion for a 10th straight week, led by a rare issue from Honolulu.
Volume for the March 16 week is estimated at $8.2 billion, according to Ipreo and The Bond Buyer, including $6.9 billion of negotiated deals and $1.3 billion of competitive sales.
The city and county of Honolulu, Hawaii's $879 million of Series A-D tax-exempt and Series E taxable general obligation bonds, is scheduled to be priced on Tuesday by Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
"Given the scarcity of paper in Hawaii generally speaking, it will do very well," said Michael Pietronico, chief executive officer at Miller Tabak Asset Management. "It also helps that the credit is respected and it is a liquid credit."
Hawaii ranked 39th among states in muni issuance last year, with $1.56 billion in nine sales. The last time Honolulu GO's came to market was in October 2012, when it sold $912.48 million, also through BofAML.
Citigroup Global Markets is expected to price the North Carolina Medical Care Commission's $376 million of bonds for Vidant Health on Monday. The issue is expected to be structured as serials from 2016-35 with a 2039 term bond. The deal is rated A1 by Moody's Investors Service and A-plus by Standard and Poor's.
"This sector has performed well, assuming its priced attractively, I think there will be a lot of buyers in the higher yield side of the market but not so much with retail investors," Pietronico said.
Citi is also scheduled to price the state of Oregon's $296 million of GOs, under Article XI for state projects on Tuesday, following a retail order period Monday. The deal is rated Aa1 by Moody's and AA-plus by both S&P and Fitch Ratings.
"The state tax rate is high enough in Oregon and the supply of paper is low enough. It is a scarce name that we don't see it often and I believe there will be significant demand for it in the market," Pietronico said.
Oregon had planned to come to market on March 5, but with university borrowings in the sale, there were grant agreements and other provisions that had to be worked out. Since then, the yield on the AAA benchmark scale has gone up five basis points to 2.14% from close on March 12, to 2.09% from close on March 5.
"Interest rates have deteriorated a bit. The original size of the deal was in the $450 million range, but now our refundings have taken a hit a little bit," said Laura Lockwood-McCall, director, debt management division for Oregon state treasury. "The [present value] savings have shrunk, but that's the way the cookie crumbles sometimes."
Lockwood-McCall also said that this deal will be the largest chunk of new money that the state will do this year. "We will still achieve robust savings with this deal, and our future looks bright as the state economy is continuing to strengthen," she said.
Goldman Sachs is set to price the Illinois Finance Authority's $283 million of Series 2015C revenue refunding bonds for the Silver Cross Hospital and Medical Center on Tuesday. The deal is rated Baa1 by Moody's and BBB-plus by Fitch.
Wells Fargo Securities will be pricing the board of regents for Texas Tech University's $246.88 million of revenue refunding and improvement bonds on Tuesday. The deal is rated Aa1 by Moody's, AA by S&P and AA-plus by Fitch. The pricing is expected to have both serials and terms.
JPMorgan is expected to price the San Mateo County Transit District's (Caltrain) $242.48 million of limited tax bonds on Wednesday, following a retail order period on Tuesday. Series A will consist of $202.485 million of non-taxable and Series B will be $39.995 million of taxable bonds. The deal is expected to mature serially from 2019 to 2034. It is rated AAA by S&P and AA-plus by Fitch.
Some other sizeable deals that will be coming to market are: Albuquerque Bernalillo county water utility authority's $232.175 million of bonds. JP Morgan is expected to price the deal on Wednesday, which is scheduled to mature serially from 2017 to 2034. The deal is rated Aa2 by Moody's, AA-plus by S&P and AA by Fitch; Morgan Stanley is expected to price Palomar community college district's $220 million of general obligation bonds on Tuesday. The deal is rated Aa2 by Moody's and AA-minus by S&P.
The largest competitive bond sale is slated for Wednesday - the Omaha Public School District No. 001, Neb.'s $141 million of Series 2015 GOs. The bonds, rated Aa1 by Moody's Investors Service and triple-A by Standard & Poor's, mature serially from 2024 to 2040. The school district last sold bonds competitively on July 11, 2001, when Merrill Lynch won $100 million of Series 2001B GOs with a true interest cost of 5.0372%.
The school district of Palm Beach county, Fla., is tentatively scheduled as it is on the day to day calendar. If the deal does come to market next week, JP Morgan will price the $224.515 million of Series 2015D, which are expected to mature serially from 2015 to 2032. The deal is rated Aa3 by Moody's and AA-minus by S&P.
