Top-quality municipal bonds were unchanged at mid-session, traders said, as deals from Illinois and the Great Lakes Water Authority swept into the market.
Primary Market
Bank of America Merrill Lynch priced the state of Illinois' $1.32 billion of Series of October 2016 general obligation refunding bonds.
The issue was priced to yield from 2.34% with a 5% coupon in 2018 to 4.21% with a 4% coupon in 2032.
The deal is rated Baa2 by Moody's Investors Service, BBB by S&P Global Ratings and BBB-plus by Fitch Ratings, with the exception of the 2030 through 2032 maturities, which are insured by Assured Guaranty Municipal.
Citigroup priced the Great Lakes Water Authority, Mich.'s $1.33 billion deal, consisting of $909.83 million of Series 2016 water supply system senior lien and second lien revenue senior lien and second lien revenue refunding bonds and $417.19 million of sewage disposal system revenue refunding senior and second lien bonds.
The $87.66 million of Series 2016A water supply system revenue senior lien bonds were priced as 5s to yield 3.34% in a 2046 bullet maturity.
The $163.2 million of Series 2016B water supply system revenue second lien bonds were priced as 5s to yield 3.49% in a 2046 bullet maturity.
The $449.16 million of Series 2016C water supply system revenue refunding senior lien bonds were priced to yield from 1.82% with a 5% coupon in 2022 to 3.16% with a 5% coupon in 2035.
The $209.82 million of Series 2016D water supply system revenue refunding second lien bonds were priced to yield from 2.26% with a 5% coupon in 2024 to 3.34% with a 5% coupon in 2036.
The $124.69 million of Series 2016B sewage disposal system revenue refunding senior lien bonds were priced to yield from 2.11% with a 5% coupon in 2024 to 3.12% with a 5% coupon in 2034.
The $292.5 million of Series 2016C sewage disposal system revenue refunding second lien bonds were priced to yield 2.66% with a 5% coupon in 2027 and t from 3.02% with a 5% coupon in 2030 to 3.34% with a 5% coupon in 2036.
Moody's rates the senior liens A3 and the second liens Baa1; S&P rates the senior liens A-minus and the second liens BBB-plus; and Fitch rates the senior liens A and the second liens A-minus.
Raymond James & Associates priced the Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District, Texas' $446.24 million of unlimited tax school building and refunding bonds.
The issue was priced to yield from 1.07% with a 5% coupon in 2019 to 3.03% with a 4% coupon in 2041. A 2017 maturity was offered as a sealed bid.
The deal is backed by the Permanent School Fund guarantee program and rated triple-A by Moody's and S&P.
Morgan Stanley priced the California Department of Water Resources' $420.46 million of Series AW water system revenue bonds for the Central Valley water project.
The issue was priced to yield from 0.89% with a 3% coupon in 2018 to 2.80% with a 4% coupon and 2.52% with a 5% coupon in a split 2035 maturity. The deal is rated Aa1 by Moody's and triple-A by S&P.
Goldman Sachs priced the Long Island Power Authority, N.Y.'s $408.11 million of Series 2016B electric system general revenue bonds.
The issue was priced to yield from 1.10% with a 4% coupon in 2018 to 3.03% with a 5% coupon in 2036; a 2041 maturity was priced as 5s to yield 3.13% and a 2046 maturity was priced as 5s to yield 3.18%. A 2017 maturity was offered as a sealed bid. The deal is rated A3 by Moody's and A-minus by S&P and Fitch.
Loop Capital priced the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York's $144.89 million of Series 2016A revenue refunding bonds for the New York State Department of Health.
The DASNY bonds were priced to yield from 1.02% with a 5% coupon in 2018 to 3.20% with a 3.125% coupon in 2036. A 2017 maturity was offered as a sealed bid. The bonds are rated AA by S&P and Fitch.
Morgan Stanley is set to price Indianapolis' $223.53 million of Series 2016B water system first lien refunding revenue bonds on Thursday.
Since 2007, the Indianapolis has issued just over $1 billion of bonds with the most issuance occurring in 2008 when it sold $276 million of debt; the city did not issue any bonds in 2015.
Bond Buyer Visible Supply
The Bond Buyer's 30-day visible supply calendar decreased $88.7 million to $18.27 billion on Thursday. The total is comprised of $6.06 billion of competitive sales and $12.22 billion of negotiated deals.
Secondary Market
The yield on the 10-year benchmark muni general obligation was flat from 1.70% on Wednesday, while the yield on the 30-year was unchanged from 2.53%, according to a read of Municipal Market Data's triple-A scale.
U.S. Treasuries were stronger on Thursday. The yield on the two-year Treasury declined to 0.84% from 0.87% on Wednesday, the 10-year Treasury yield dropped to 1.75% from 1.77% and the yield on the 30-year Treasury bond decreased to 2.48% from 2.50%.
On Wednesday, the 10-year muni to Treasury ratio was calculated at 95.7% compared to 94.9% on Tuesday, while the 30-year muni to Treasury ratio stood at 100.9% versus 100.0%, according to MMD.
MSRB: Previous Session's Activity
The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board reported 34,201 trades on Wednesday on volume of $10.42 billion.
Tax-Exempt Money Market Fund Outflows
Tax-exempt money market funds experienced outflows of $1.96 billion, bringing total net assets to $127.35 billion in the week ended Oct. 10, according to The Money Fund Report, a service of iMoneyNet.com. This followed an outflow of $5.09 billion to $129.32 billion in the previous week.
The average, seven-day simple yield for the 243 weekly reporting tax-exempt funds rose to 0.34% from 0.32% in the previous week.
The total net assets of the 865 weekly reporting taxable money funds decreased $16.87 billion to $2.477 trillion in the week ended Oct. 11, after an outflow of $30.11 billion to $2.494 trillion the prior before.
The average, seven-day simple yield for the taxable money funds remained at 0.13%.
Overall, the combined total net assets of the 1,108 weekly reporting money funds fell $18.83 billion to $2.604 trillion in the period ended Oct. 11, which followed an outflow of $35.19 billion to $2.623 trillion.
