The municipal bond market is seeing more new issue supply hit the screens on Wednesday, topped by some large deals out of New Jersey, California and Massachusetts.
Primary Market
In early action, Bank of America Merrill Lynch priced the New Jersey Health Care Facilities Financing Authority's $594.41 million of Series 2017A revenue and refunding bonds for the Meridian Health Obligated Group.
The issue was priced to yield from 1.49% with 3% and 5% coupons in a split 2020 maturity to 4.08% with a 4% coupon in 2040. A 2047 maturity was priced as 4s to yield 4.13%, a split 2052 maturity was priced as 4s to yield 4.20% and as 5s to yield 3.86% and a split 2057 maturity was priced as 5s to yield 4.01% and as 5 1/4s to yield 3.94%.
The deal is rated A-plus by S&P Global Ratings and AA-minus by Fitch Ratings.
Since 2007, the New Jersey HCFFA has sold about $8.02 billion of bonds, with the most issuance occurring in 2016 when it offered $1.61 billion of debt, one of only two times in that period it has sold more than $1 billion in a year. The authority saw a low year of issuance back in 2012, when it sold $172 million.
BAML is also expected to price the California State Public Works Board's $537 million of Series 2017 B&C various capital lease revenue refunding bonds for retail investors ahead of the institutional pricing on Thursday.
The deal is rated A1 by Moody's and A-plus by S&P and Fitch.
Jefferies is set to price the New York State Environmental Facilities Corp.'s $415.4 million of state clean water and drinking water revolving fund bonds for New York City Municipal Water Authority projects.
The deal is rated triple-A by Moody's, S&P and Fitch.
The state of Massachusetts was planning to sell over $1 billion of bonds in two separate negotiated deals.
Late Monday, BAML priced the Massachusetts' Clean Water Trust's $303.96 million of state revolving fund Series 20 green bonds and Series 2017 refunding bonds for institutions after holding a retail order period.
The $207.78 million of Series 20 green bonds were priced to yield from 0.80% with a 4% coupon in 2018 to 2.91% with a 5% coupon in 2037. A 2042 maturity was priced as 5s to yield 2.98% and a 2047 maturity was priced as 5s to yield 3.03%.
The $96.71 million of refunding bonds were priced as 5s to yield from 1.44% in 2021 to 2.68% in 2029.
The deal is rated triple-A by Moody's, S&P and Fitch.
On Thursday, Citigroup is expected to price Massachusetts' $778 million general obligation bond offering. That deal is comprised of $400 million of Series 2017A GO, $278 million of Series 2017C refunding bonds and $100 million of Series 2017B GO green bonds.
The deal is rated Aa1 by Moody's and AA-plus by S&P and Fitch.
Bond Buyer Visible Supply
The Bond Buyer's 30-day visible supply calendar decreased $385.8 million to $12.20 billion on Wednesday. The total is comprised of $3.97 billion of competitive sales and $8.23 billion of negotiated deals.
Secondary Market
U.S. Treasuries were narrowly mixed on Wednesday. The yield on the two-year was unchanged from 1.25% on Tuesday, while the 10-year Treasury yield rose to 2.37% from 2.35%, and the yield on the 30-year Treasury bond increased to 3.01% from 2.99%.
Top-rated municipal bonds finished stronger on Tuesday. The yield on the 10-year benchmark muni general obligation fell one basis point to 2.22% from 2.23% on Monday, while the 30-year GO yield dropped two basis points to 3.01% from 3.03%, 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 94.5% on Tuesday compared to 95.1% on Monday, while the 30-year muni to Treasury ratio stood at 100.6%, versus 101.6%, according to MMD.
MSRB: Previous Session's Activity
The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board reported 45,340 trades on Tuesday on volume of $10.82 billion.
