Muni Market Awaits Big Competitive Sales

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The municipal bond market will be waiting to see some supply hit the screens on Wednesday – including large competitive offerings from Maryland and Nevada issuers.

Secondary Market

Treasuries were weaker on Wednesday. The yield on the two-year Treasury rose to 1.30% from 1.22% on Tuesday, while the 10-year Treasury yield gained to 2.46% from 2.36%, and the yield on the 30-year Treasury bond increased to 3.06% from 2.97%.

Top-quality municipal bonds ended unchanged on Tuesday. The 10-year benchmark muni general obligation yield was unchanged from 2.29% on Monday, while the yield on the 30-year GO was steady from 3.05%, according to the final read of Municipal Market Data's triple-A scale.

On Tuesday, the 10-year muni to Treasury ratio was calculated at 97.1% compared to 96.8% on Monday, while the 30-year muni to Treasury ratio stood at 102.8%, versus 102.2%, according to MMD.

MSRB: Previous Session's Activity

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board reported 43,959 trades on Tuesday on volume of $9.22 billion.

Primary Market

In the competitive arena on Wednesday, Baltimore County, Md., is selling $545 million of notes and bonds in three separate sales.

The offerings consist of $225 million of Series 2017 metropolitan district bond anticipation notes, $121 million of Series 2017 consolidated public improvement BANs, and $199 million of metropolitan district bonds, 79th Issue.

The BANs are rated MIG1 by Moody's Investors Service, SP1-plus by S&P Global Ratings and F1-plus by Fitch Ratings. The bonds are rated triple-A by Moody's, S&P and Fitch.

Since 2007, Baltimore County has sold about $4.22 billion of bonds, with the most issuance coming in 2012 when it offered $704 million. Although the county has come to market every year during this period, it twice issued less than $50 million: in 2008 when it issued $41 million and then in 2013 when it issued just $11.8 million.

Clark County, Nev., is set to competitively sell $317.78 million of Series 2017 limited tax general obligation bond bank refunding bonds additionally secured by pledged revenues.

The deal is rated Aa1 by Moody's and AA-plus by S&P.

In the negotiated sector on Wednesday, RBC Capital Markets is set to price the Oklahoma Development Authority's $251.64 million of Series 2017A tax-exempt and Series 2017B taxable revenue bonds for the Provident Oklahoma Education Resource Inc.'s Cross Village student housing project.

The deal is rated BBB-minus by S&P.

Barclays Capital is expected to price the New Jersey Educational Facilities Authority's $123.59 million of Series 2017A revenue bonds for the Stevens Institute of Technology.

The deal is rated A-minus by S&P.

Bond Buyer Visible Supply

The Bond Buyer's 30-day visible supply calendar increased $137 million to $10.73 billion on Wednesday. The total is comprised of $5.20 billion of competitive sales and $5.53 billion of negotiated deals.

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