Municipal bond traders are set to see the last of this week's big new issues come to market on Thursday, led by sales from issuers in New York and California.
Secondary Market
U.S. Treasuries were stronger on Thursday. The yield on the two-year Treasury slipped to 0.74% from 0.75% on Wednesday, while the 10-year Treasury yield inched down to 1.78% from 1.79% and the yield on the 30-year Treasury bond fell to 2.64% from 2.66%.
Top-quality municipal bonds finished steady to stronger on Wednesday. The yield on the 10-year benchmark muni general obligation was unchanged from 1.58% on Tuesday, while the 30-year muni yield dropped one basis point to 2.53% from 2.54%, according to the final read of Municipal Market Data's triple-A scale.
The 10-year muni to Treasury ratio was calculated at 88.6% on Wednesday compared with 87.9% on Tuesday, while the 30-year muni to Treasury ratio stood at 95.7% versus 95.5%, according to MMD.
MSRB Previous Session's Activity
The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board reported 40,439 trades on Wednesday on volume of $12.27 billion.
Primary Market
On Thursday, Ramirez is slated to price the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey's $475 million of 195th series of consolidated bonds.
The deal, which is subject to the alternative minimum tax, is rated Aa3 by Moody's Investors Service and expected to be rated AA-minus by Standard & Poor's and Fitch Ratings.
Since 2006, Port Authority has issued $23.2 billion of debt, with over $2 billion of bonds sold in 2007, 2010, 2012, 2014 and 2015. The smallest issuance year was 2008, when the authority sold $1.6 billion.
RBC Capital Markets is expected to price the Missouri Health and Educational Facilities Authority's $251.82 million of health facilities revenue bonds for St. Luke's Health System Inc.
The deal is rated A1 by Moody's and A-plus by S&P.
Siebert Brandford Shank is set to sell the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power's $275 million of Series 2016A power system revenue bonds.
In the competitive arena, Milwaukee, Wis., is selling $293.77 million of notes and bonds in three separate sales.
The first deal consists of $133.51 million of Series 2016N2 general obligation promissory notes and $42.73 million of Series 2016B3 GO corporate purpose bonds. The city is also selling $27.53 million of Series 2016T4 taxable GO corporate purpose bonds. Both deals are rated Aa3 by Moody's and AA by S&P and Fitch.
Additionally, Milwaukee is selling $90 million of Series 2016R1 revenue anticipation notes, which are rated MIG1 by Moody's, SP1-plus by S&P and F1-plus by Fitch.
Since 2006, the city has sold about $4.6 billion of bonds and notes, with the most issuance occurring in 2010 when it sold $604.3 million and the least issuance in 2007 when it sold $303.8 million.
Bond Buyer Visible Supply The Bond Buyer's 30-day visible supply calendar decreased $2.07 billion to $11.23 billion on Thursday. The total is comprised of $5.72 billion of competitive sales and $5.51 billion of negotiated deals.
Tax-Exempt Money Market Funds See Outflows
Tax-exempt money market funds experienced outflows of $1.71 billion, bringing total net assets to $216.04 billion in the week ended May 2, according to The Money Fund Report, a service of iMoneyNet.com. This followed an outflow of $3.85 billion to $217.75 billion in the previous week.
The average, seven-day simple yield for the 296 weekly reporting tax-exempt funds rose to 0.06% from 0.05% in the previous week.
The total net assets of the 892 weekly reporting taxable money funds increased $6.88 billion to $2.483 trillion in the week ended May 3, after an inflow of $18.87 billion to $2.476 trillion the week before.
The average, seven-day simple yield for the taxable money funds was unchanged from 0.10% in the prior week.
Overall, the combined total net assets of the 1,188 weekly reporting money funds increased $5.17 billion to $2.699 trillion in the period ended April 26, which followed an inflow of $15.02 billion to $2.694 trillion.
