Top-quality municipal bonds remained stronger at mid-session, according to traders, ahead of next week's new issue slate.
Ipreo estimates next week's volume at $4.3 billion, up a revised total of $2.6 billion this week. Next week's slate is comprised of $2.9 billion of negotiated deals and $1.4 billion of competitive sales.
Secondary Market
The 10-year benchmark muni general obligation yield fell two to four basis points from 2.34% on Thursday, while the yield on the 30-year GO dropped two to four basis points from 3.09%, according to a read of Municipal Market Data's triple-A scale.
Treasuries were also stronger on Friday. The yield on the two-year Treasury dropped to 1.14% from 1.19% on Thursday, while the 10-year Treasury yield declined to 2.31% from 2.38%, and the yield on the 30-year Treasury bond decreased to 2.96% from 3.02%.
On Thursday, the 10-year muni to Treasury ratio was calculated at 98.1% compared to 98.1% on Wednesday, while the 30-year muni to Treasury ratio stood at 102.3%, versus 102.5%, according to MMD.
MSRB: Previous Session's Activity
The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board reported 46,898 trades on Thursday on volume of $11.64 billion.
Week's Most Actively Traded Issues
Some of the most actively traded issues by type in the week ended Feb. 24 were from Ohio, New York, and Nebraska, according to
In the GO bond sector, the Berea City School District, Ohio, 4s of 2053 were traded 47 times. In the revenue bond sector, the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority 2s of 2017 were traded 31 times. And in the taxable bond sector, the Omaha, Neb., Public Facilities Corp. 4.353s of 2047 were traded 22 times.
Week's Most Actively Quoted Issues
South Carolina, New York and California names were among the most actively quoted bonds in the week ended Feb. 24, according to Markit.
On the bid side, the South Carolina Public Service Authority revenue 5s of 2048 were quoted by 51 unique dealers. On the ask side, the New York City GO 5s of 2028 were quoted by 212 unique dealers. And among two-sided quotes, the California taxable 6.2s of 2019 were quoted by 25 unique dealers.
Primary Market
Citigroup priced the Alabama State Port Authority's $142.405 million of dock facilities revenue refunding bonds consisting of $124.140 million of Series 2017A alternative minimum tax bonds, $12.110 million of Series 2017B non-AMT bonds and $6.16 million of Series 2017C non-AMT bonds.
Assured Guaranty Municipal insured the Series 2017A AMT bonds, except for the 2017 maturity and the Series 2017C non-AMT bonds. The deal is rated A-minus by S&P Global Ratings and Fitch Ratings, with the exception of the insured maturities, which are rated AA by S&P.
Citi also priced California Educational Facilities Authority's $179.055 million of revenue bonds for Loma Linda University consisting of $135.45 million of Series 2017A tax-exempts and $43.61 million of Series 2017B taxables. The deal is rated Baa1 by Moody's Investors Service and A by S&P.
JPMorgan Securities priced the Michigan State Hospital Finance Authority's $178.52 million of refunding and project revenue bonds for Ascension Health Senior Credit Group as a remarketing.
The issue consisted of $95.55 million of Series 2010F-2 bonds and $82.98 million of Series 2010F-5 bonds. The deal is rated Aa2 by Moody's and AA-plus by S&P and Fitch.
In the competitive arena, Delaware sold $225 million of general obligation bonds. Morgan Stanley won the bonds with a true interest cost of 2.80%. The deal is rated triple-A by Moody's, S&P and Fitch.
Miami-Dade County, Fla., sold $176.93 million of transit system sales surtax revenue refunding bonds. PNC Capital Markets won the bonds with a TIC of 3.66%. The deal is rated AA by S&P and Fitch.
The Port of Seattle sold $129.94 million of limited tax GO bonds. JPMorgan Securities won the bonds with a TIC of 3.55%. The deal is rated triple-A by Moody's and S&P and AA-minus by Fitch.
Forsyth County, N.C., sold $129.3 million of GOs in two separate offerings. Citigroup won the $107.5 million of Series 2017B GO public improvement bonds with a TIC of 3.12%. Robert W. Baird won the $21.8 million of Series 2017A GO public improvement bonds with a TIC of 2.83%. The deals are rated triple-A by Moody's, S&P and Fitch.
The Lancaster County School District, S.C., competitively sold $125 million of Series 2017 GOs. Bank of America Merrill Lynch won the bonds with a TIC of 3.29%. The deal is rated Aa1 by Moody's and AA by S&P.
Bond Buyer Visible Supply
The Bond Buyer's 30-day visible supply calendar increased $678.3 million to $9.94 billion on Friday. The total is comprised of $4.42 billion of competitive sales and $5.51 billion of negotiated deals.
Lipper: Muni Bond Funds Report Inflows
Municipal bond funds again attracted inflows, according to Lipper data released late Thursday. The weekly reporters saw $149.336 million of inflows in the week ended Feb. 22, after inflows of $480.072 million in the previous week.
The four-week moving average remained in the green at positive $236.914 million, after being positive at $201.325 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 had inflows, gaining $156.457 million in the latest week after gaining $464.295 million in the previous week. Intermediate-term funds had inflows of $82.507 million after outflows of $8.176 million in the prior week.
National funds had inflows of $207.266 million after inflows of $495.227 million in the previous week. High-yield muni funds reported inflows of $227.761 million in the latest reporting week, after inflows of $481.705 million the previous week.
Exchange traded funds saw outflows of $36.447 million, after inflows of $12.103 million in the previous week.