Top shelf municipal bonds were narrowly mixed at midday, according to traders, who were looking ahead to next week's $6.2 billion new issue slate.
Volume for the upcoming holiday-shortened trading week is estimated by Ipreo at $6.21 billion, consisting of $5.48 billion of negotiated deals and $723.5 million of competitive sales.
Secondary Trading
The yield on the 10-year benchmark muni general obligation was as much as one basis point weaker from 1.85% on Thursday, while the 30-year muni yield was steady from 2.80%, according to a read of Municipal Market Data's triple-A scale.
U.S. Treasuries were stronger on Friday. The yield on the two-year Treasury dropped to 0.84% from 0.87% on Thursday, while the 10-year Treasury yield declined to 1.87% from 1.90% and the 30-year Treasury bond yield decreased to 2.67% from 2.69%.
The 10-year muni to Treasury ratio was calculated on Thursday at 97.3% compared to 97.1% on Wednesday, while the 30-year muni to Treasury ratio stood at 103.9% versus 103.9%, according to MMD.
MSRB Previous Session's Activity
The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board reported 38,565 trades on Thursday on volume of $11.79 billion.
Primary Market
A hefty new issue slate came to market this week.
JPMorgan Securities priced the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County, Tenn.'s Health and Educational Facilities $784 million issue, consisting of $483.995 million of Series 2016A revenue bonds for the Vanderbilt University Medical Center and $300 million of Series 2016B taxable revenue. The bonds are rated A3 by Moody's Investors Service.
Ramirez & Co. priced the New York City Transitional Finance Authority's $750 million of Building Aid Revenue Bonds, Fiscal 2016 Series S-1. The bonds are rated Aa2 by Moody's Investors Service and AA Standard & Poor's and Fitch Ratings.
Ramirez also priced Connecticut's $550 million of general obligation bonds. The deal is rated Aa3 by Moody's Investors Service and AA by S&P, Fitch and Kroll Bond Rating Agency.
The state of Hawaii sold two separate competitive offerings totaling $525 million. Bank of America Merrill Lynch won the $500 million of Series 2016 FB tax-exempt general obligation bonds with a true interest cost of 2.81%. Morgan Stanley won the $25 million of Series 2016 FC taxable GOs with a TIC of 1.53%. Both sales are rated Aa2 by Moody's Investors Service and AA by Standard & Poor's and Fitch Ratings.
Wells Fargo Securities priced the Westchester County, N.Y., Local Development Corp.'s $283.58 million of Series 2016 revenue bonds for the Westchester Medical Center Obligated group. The bonds are rated Baa2 by Moody's and BBB by S&P.
Morgan Stanley priced the California Health Facilities Financing Authority's $176.98 million of Series 2016A refunding revenue bonds and Series 2016B revenue bonds for the Lucile Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford. The deal is rated Aa3 by Moody's, AA-minus by S&P and AA by Fitch.
Hilltop Securities priced the Tohopekaliga Water Authority, Fla.'s $173.61 million of Series 2016 utility system revenue and revenue refunding bonds. The issue is rated AA-plus by Standard & Poor's and Fitch Ratings.
JPMorgan Securities priced Halifax Hospital Medical Center in Daytona Beach, Fla.'s $165.49 million of Series 2016 hospital revenue refunding and improvement bonds. The bonds are rated A-minus by S&P and triple-B-plus by Fitch.
Wells Fargo Securities priced the Santa Clara Valley Water District, Calif.'s $149.39 million of Series 2016A water system refunding revenue bonds and Series 2016C revenue certificates of participation for water utility system improvement projects. The deal is rated Aa1 by Moody's and AA by Fitch Ratings.
Robert W. Baird & Co. priced Winston-Salem, N.C.'s $135.47 million of Series 2016A water and sewer system revenue refunding bonds and Series 2016B taxable water and sewer system revenue refunding bonds. The deal is rated Aa1 by Moody's, triple-A by S&P and AA-plus by Fitch. The city also sold $67.93 million of GOs and taxable GOs in four competitive sales.
BAML priced the Lancaster County, Pa., Hospital Authority's $128.05 million of revenue and refunding bonds for the University of Pennsylvania Health System. The deal is rated Aa3 by Moody's and AA-minus by S&P.
Howard County, Md., sold three separate GO deals totaling a $124.3 million. BAML won the biggest part – $97.51 million of Series 2016A tax-exempt GO consolidated public improvement project and refunding bonds with a TIC of 3.47%. Morgan Stanley won the $25.05 million tax-exempt sale with a TIC of 3.05% while Raymond James won the $1.76 million taxable deal with a TIC of 1.92%. All three issues are rated triple-A by Moody's, S&P and Fitch.
Jefferies priced Wisconsin's $120.89 million of Series 2016 1 clean water revenue refunding bonds. The deal is rated Aa1 by Moody's and AA-plus by S&P and Fitch.
Bank of America Merrill Lynch priced the Indiana Finance Authority's $103.37 million all-green bond issue. The bonds are rated triple-A by Moody's, S&P and Fitch.
Bond Buyer Visible Supply
The Bond Buyer's 30-day visible supply calendar rose $936.8 million to $8.93 billion on Friday. The total is comprised of $1.76 billion of competitive sales and $7.18 billion of negotiated deals.
The Week's Most Actively Quoted Issues
California issues were among some of the most actively quoted names in the week ended March 18, according to data released on Friday by Markit.
On the bid side, the California taxable 7.55s of 2039 were quoted by 14 unique dealers. On the ask side, the California GO 4s of 2036 were quoted by 16 unique dealers. And among two-sided quotes, the California taxable 7.55s of 2039 were quoted by 13 dealers.
The Week's Most Actively Traded Issues
Some of the most actively traded issues by type in the week ended March 18 were in California and New York,
In the GO bond sector, the California 3s of 2033 traded 49 times. In the revenue bond sector, the New York City Transitional Finance Authority 4s of 2045 traded 132 times. And in the taxable bond sector, the California 7.55s of 2039 traded 23 times, Markit said.
Muni Bond Funds See Inflows for 24th Straight Week
Municipal bond funds reported inflows for the 24th week in a row, according to Lipper data released late Thursday. Weekly reporting funds saw $780.007 million of inflows in the week ended March 16, after inflows of $518.253 million in the previous week, Lipper said.
The four-week moving average remained positive at $551.727 million after being in the green at $523.966 million in the previous week. A moving average is an analytical tool used to smooth out price changes by filtering out fluctuations.
Long-term muni bond funds also experienced inflows, gaining $522.398 million in the latest week after inflows of $276.208 million in the previous week. Intermediate-term funds had inflows of $230.746 million after inflows of $201.549 million in the prior week.
National funds saw inflows of $617.603 million after inflows of $492.834 million in the prior week. High-yield muni funds reported inflows of $229.613 million in the latest reporting week, after inflows of $151.240 million the previous week.
Exchange traded funds saw inflows of $104.430 million, after inflows of $67.895 million in the previous week.
