Unique Names Highlight $5.8 Billion Calendar

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Volume will inch up slightly from last week but remain relatively sparse as an estimated $5.81 billion makes its way to market, led by a $575 million Illinois Finance Authority revenue sale and a Rhode Island Tobacco Settlement Financing Corp. offering.

The projected volume, estimated by Ipreo LLC and The Bond Buyer, is barely up from a revised $5.78 billion that was priced last week and reported by Thomson Reuters.

Some of the week's upcoming deals - such as the tobacco offering, general obligation sales in Connecticut and Wisconsin, and a Tennessee school deal - will be "outliers" and have enough appeal to grab investors' attention despite the seasonal supply slump hanging over the market and any weakness that surfaced ahead of Friday's jobs report, according to a New York underwriter.

The Illinois deal - expected to be the week's largest - will be priced Tuesday by Barclays Capital on behalf of the University of Chicago. The bonds are rated Aa2 by Moody's Investors Service, AA by Standard & Poor's, and AA-plus by Fitch Ratings, and will mature serially from 2019 to 2035, with a term bond in 2038.

Citigroup Global Markets LLC will lead the books on the Rhode Island tobacco deal when it is priced on Tuesday with a structure that ranges from 2015 to 2049 and ratings ranging from A-minus to triple-B.

A $510.5 million Connecticut sale of tax-exempt and taxable GOs will also be on investors' radar screens on Wednesday as the largest deal in the competitive market. Rated Aa3 by Moody's and AA by Standard & Poor's and Fitch, the tax-exempt portion will mature serially from 2015 to 2024, while the two taxable series will include $200 million structured to mature from 2015 to 2019 and $10.59 million set to mature in 2027.

"I think some of the names will do well," he said, citing the $339 million higher education financing from the Tennessee State School Board Authority expected for pricing by Citi on Wednesday and the $313.6 million sale of GO refunding bonds set to price Tuesday by RBC Capital Markets.

"The Rhode Island tobacco won't be for every type of buyer, but it will have yield," he explained. "Tennessee doesn't come that often, and Wisconsin will get a very good number simply because they have addressed their pension obligations better than others."

The Tennessee deal will be rated Aa1 by Moody's and AA-plus by Standard & Poor's, and will be priced in a two-pronged deal comprised of tax-exempt serial bonds maturing from 2015 to 2024, and taxable bonds maturing from 2015 to 2044.

The Wisconsin structure, meanwhile, includes Series 2014 bonds maturing from 2020 to 2029 and Series 2015 bonds maturing in 2015. The credit is rated Aa2 by Moody's and AA by the two other major rating agencies.

"I think those names will do well and will be somewhat insulated from whatever else goes on in the market," the underwriter continued.

On Friday, the Labor Department's monthly jobs report stated that payrolls rose 209,000 in July and the June-May revision ranked in at plus-15,000, while the unemployment rate declined 0.1% to 6.2%

Muni yields weakened Friday, with yields on bonds on both the short and long ends of the curve climbing as much as one basis point. Yields on the intermediate part of the curve jumped as much as two basis points, according to the Municipal Market Data's triple-A scale.

The generic, triple-A GO scale closed at a 3.30% at the end of trading on Friday, compared to 3.24% last Monday, according to MMD.

Back in the Northeast market, other sizable deals this week include a $344.45 million Metropolitan Transportation Authority sale of triple-A-rated special obligation taxable refunding bonds in a deal led by Jefferies LLC set to price Thursday, and $205 million of turnpike revenue bonds from the New Jersey Turnpike Authority scheduled for Wednesday led by Citigroup in a structure that matures serially from 2015 to 2025.

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