BAML wins N.Y. MTA bonds as longer yields head higher

The New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority sold a $478.18 million competitive deal to Bank of America Merrill Lynch as bond yields moved higher on Thursday.

Secondary market
The MBIS municipal non-callable 5% GO benchmark scale is mixed in midday trading.

The 10-year muni benchmark yield fell to 2.326% on Thursday from the final read of 2.337% on Wednesday, according to Municipal Bond Information Services. The MBIS 30-year benchmark muni yield rose to 2.853% from 2.845%.

The MBIS benchmark index is updated hourly on the Bond Buyer Data Workstation.

Top-rated municipal bonds are weaker at mid-session. The yield on the 10-year benchmark muni general obligation rose as much as two basis points from 2.10% on Tuesday, while the 30-year GO yield gained as much as two basis points from 2.69%, according to a read of MMD’s triple-A scale.

U.S. Treasuries are weaker in midday activity. The yield on the two-year Treasury rose to 2.06% on Thursday from 2.05% on Wednesday, the 10-year Treasury yield gained to 2.60% from 2.58% and the yield on the 30-year Treasury increased to 2.88% from 2.85%.

On Wednesday, the 10-year muni-to-Treasury ratio was calculated at 78.0% compared with 82.6% on Tuesday, while the 30-year muni-to-Treasury ratio stood at 92.6% versus 94.9%, according to MMD.

MSRB: Previous session's activity
The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board reported 45,769 trades on Wednesday on volume of $11.54 billion.

Primary market
In the competitive arena, the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority sold $478.18 million of mandatory tender bonds in two separate sales.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch won the $279.4 million of Series 2018A-2 transportation revenue bonds with a true interest cost of 1.9074%. The bonds were priced as 5s to yield 1.88% in 2048 with a mandatory tender date of 2022.

BAML also won the $198.78 million of Subseries 2018A-1 transportation revenue bonds with a TIC of 1.7972%. The bonds were priced as 5s to yield 1.75% in 2045 with a mandatory tender date of 2020.

The deals are rated A1 by Moody’s Investors Service and AA-minus by S&P Global Ratings and Fitch Ratings.

The Prior Lake Independent School District No. 719, Minn., sold $125 million of GOs in two separate sales.

Morgan Stanley won the $65 million of Series 2018A GO school building bonds with a TIC of 3.1758% and Wells Fargo Securities won the $60 million of Series 2018B GO school building capital appreciation bonds with a TIC of 2.7620%.

The deals are backed by the Minnesota School District Credit Enhancement Program.

Stifel is expected to price the Denver Public Schools, Colo.’s $211.995 million of Series 2018A general obligation bonds and Series 2018B taxable GOs.

The deal is rated Aa2 by Moody’s and AA-plus by S&P and Fitch.

Loop Capital Markets is set to price Cook County, Ill.’s $103.15 million of Series 2018 GO refunding bonds.

The deal is rated A2 by Moody’s, AA-minus by S&P and A-plus by Fitch.

Since 2008, Cook County has sold about $3.27 billion of bonds, with the most issuance occurring in 2010 when it sold $810 million. The county did not come to market at all in 2015.

BB-011918-MUN

Bond Buyer 30-day visible supply at $7.18B
The Bond Buyer's 30-day visible supply calendar decreased $545.9 million to $7.18 billion on Thursday. The total is comprised of $2.66 billion of competitive sales and $4.51 billion of negotiated deals.

Tax-exempt money market funds saw inflows
Tax-exempt money market funds experienced inflows of $719.3 million, bringing total net assets to $136.12 billion in the week ended Jan. 15, according to The Money Fund Report, a service of iMoneyNet.com.

This followed an inflow of $4.34 billion to $135.40 billion in the previous week.

The average, seven-day simple yield for the 198 weekly reporting tax-exempt funds fell to 0.86% from 0.96% the previous week.

The total net assets of the 832 weekly reporting taxable money funds decreased $29.01 billion to $2.639 trillion in the week ended Jan. 22, after an outflow of $7.07 billion to $2.668 trillion the week before.

The average, seven-day simple yield for the taxable money funds increased to 0.94% from 0.93% from the prior week.

Overall, the combined total net assets of the 1,030 weekly reporting money funds decreased $28.29 billion to $2.775 trillion in the week ended Jan. 22, after outflows of $2.73 billion to $2.803 trillion in the prior week.

Treasury announces auction details
The Treasury Department announced these auctions:

  • $48 billion 91-day bills on Jan. 22;
  • $42 billion 182-day bills on Jan. 22;
  • $26 billion two-year notes on Jan. 23;
  • $34 billion five-year notes on Jan. 24;
  • $15 billion two-year floating rate notes on Jan. 24; and
  • $28 billion seven-year notes on Jan. 25.

Data appearing in this article from Municipal Bond Information Services, including the MBIS municipal bond index, is available on The Bond Buyer Data Workstation. Click here for a brief tour of the Workstation, or contact Vanessa Kim at 212-803-8474 for more information.

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Primary bond market Secondary bond market Municipal bond funds Metropolitan Transportation Authority
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