Flood of bonds swamps municipal market

The municipal market absorbed more supply Tuesday as issuers in California, Ohio, Virginia, Florida and the District of Columbia added to a deluge of bonds.

Yields on top-rated munis gained as much as four basis points on Tuesday after rising as much as eight basis points the previous day.

Primary market

“The market was tentative today for sure, most deals got done but at adjusted levels,” said one New York trader. “a few deals were bumped by a few basis points and then a few deals didn’t come at all.”

Thirty-year yields have soared about 22 basis points since Dec. 6, the trader said.

“Today, the market found a level where some new issues could clear," he said. "People came in with eyes wide open, knowing what was coming [in terms of both what deals were coming and the cuts on benchmark sale] and didn’t mind spending money.”

One deal that didn’t make it to market on Tuesday was the New Jersey Turnpike Authority’s $795 million of Series G turnpike revenue bonds.

Underwriter Loop Capital Markets said that the deal is still currently being worked on but “could” price within the next few days.

"I didn't hear any specific reasons as to why it did not come, other than that it was due to market conditions," said one market source.

Barclays Capital priced and repriced the Regents of the University of California’s $614.49 million of tax-exempt general revenue bonds for institutions after holding a one-day retail order period.

The Series AZ taxable portion of the deal, which was priced for retail on Monday, was eliminated.

The Series AY tax-exempts were priced on Tuesday to yield from 1.51% with a 3% coupon in 2022 to 3.23% with a 3% coupon and 2.71% with a 5% coupon in a split 2037 maturity; a 2041 maturity was priced as 4s to yield 3.16%.

The deal is rated Aa2 by Moody’s Investors Service and AA by S&P Global Ratings and Fitch Ratings.

JPMorgan priced Allen County, Ohio’s $584.84 million of hospital facilities revenue bonds for Mercy Health.

The $494.08 million series 2017A bonds were priced to yield from 1.69% with a 5% a coupon in 2019 to 3.65% with a 4% coupon in 2038. A term bond in 2042 was priced to yield 3.29% with a 5% coupon and a term bond in 2047 was priced to yield 3.74% with a 4% coupon. The $90.76 million of series 2017B bonds were priced to yield to yield 2.15% with a 5% coupon in a bullet 2047 maturity with a mandatory put date of May 5, 2022.

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

Since 2007, the county has issued roughly $2.20 billion of bonds, with the most issuance occurring in 2010 when it sold $681 million of bonds. It did not come to market in 2009, 2011 and 2013 through 2014.

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Citigroup priced and repriced the Virginia College Building Authority's $566.19 million of Series 2017E educational facilities revenue refunding bonds for the 21st century college and equipment programs.

The bonds were priced to yield from 1.13% with a 5% coupon in 2018 to 1.55% with a 5% coupon in 2020 and to yield from 1.73% with a 5% coupon in 2022 to 2.82% with a 4% coupon and 2.64% with a 5% coupon in a split 2032 maturity.

The deal is rated Aa1 by Moody's and AA-plus by S&P and Fitch.

RBC Capital Markets priced Washington, D.C.’s $508.55 million of Series 2017D general obligation bonds.

The issue was priced to yield from 1.60% with a 4% coupon in 2020 to 2.83% with a 5% coupon in 2038. A split 2042 maturity was priced as 5s to yield 2.87% and as 4s to yield 3.17%.

The District of Columbia GOs are rated Aa1 by Moody’s and AA by S&P and Fitch.

Wells Fargo Securities priced the Florida’s JEA’s $415 million of Series 2017A water and sewer system revenue bonds and water and sewer system subordinate revenue bonds.

The $356.28 million of water and sewer system revenue bonds were priced to yield from 1.62% with a 5% coupon in 2020 to 3.48% with a 3.375% coupon and 3.15% with a 4% coupon in a split 2037 maturity. A 2039 maturity was priced as 4s to yield 3.18% and a 2041 maturity was priced as 3 3/8s to yield 3.53%.

The $59.285 million of water and sewer system subordinate revenue bonds were priced to yield from 1.77% with a 5% coupon in 2021 to 3.43% with a 3.25% coupon in 2034.

The revenue bonds are rated Aa2 by Moody’s, AAA by S&P and AA by Fitch while the subordinated revenue bonds are rated Aa2 by Moody’s, AA-plus by S&P and AA by Fitch.

UBS priced Bexar County, Texas’ $413.13 million of refunding bonds.

The $384.745 million of limited tax refunding bonds were priced to yield from 1.23% with a 3% coupon in 2019 to 2.83% with a 5% coupon in 2037. A term bond in 2041 was priced to yield 3.18% with a 4% coupon and a term bond in 2043 was priced to yield 2.90% with a 5% coupon.

The $28.385 million of flood control tax refunding bonds were priced to yield from 1.23% with a 2% coupon in 2019 to 3.13% with a 4% coupon in 2037.

The deal is rated triple-A by Moody's, S&P and Fitch.

“There were just so many moving parts today, to the point where if you were a deal under $300 million you were not on a lot of radars," said the trader. "The market has been so up and down in terms of yields lately, so who knows what Wednesday will bring."

PNC Capital Markets priced Cape Coral, Fla.'s $249.095 million of water and sewer refunding revenue bonds.

The bonds were priced to yield from 1.91% with a 5% coupon in 2022 to 3.41% with a 4% coupon in 2037. A term bond in 2039 was priced to yield 3.11% with a 5% coupon and a term bond in 2042 was priced to yield 3.49% with a 4% coupon.

The deal is rated A1 by Moody's and A-plus by Fitch, with the exception of the 2034 maturity, that is insured by Build America Mutual and is rated AA by S&P.

Goldman priced the Anaheim Housing and Public Improvements Authority, Calif.’s $236.33 million of revenue refunding and electric utility distribution system refunding bonds.

The $42.65 million of series 2017A bonds were priced to yield from 1.57% with a 5% coupon in 2021 to 2.21% with a 5% coupon in 2028. The $193.68 million of series 2017B bonds were priced to yield 1.14% with a 5% coupon in 2018 and from 1.57% with a 5% coupon in 2022 to 2.50% with a 5% coupon in 2036.

The deal is rated Aa3 by Moody’s and AA-minus by Fitch.

Wells Fargo Securities priced and repriced the Washington Healthcare Facilities Authority's $171.85 million of revenue and refunding bonds for the Overlake Hospital Medical Center.

The $92.47 million of Series 2017A revenue bonds were repriced to yield from 3.22% with a 5% coupon in 2034 to 3.65% with a 4% coupon in 2037. A split 2042 maturity was priced as 4s to yield 3.72% and as 5s to yield 3.34%.

The $84.38 million of Series 2017B refunding bonds were repriced to yield from 2.18% with a 5% coupon in 2022 to 3.23% with a 5% coupon in 2034.

The deal is rated A2 by Moody's and A by S&P.

Wells Fargo priced the Pennsylvania Higher Educational Facilities Authority’s $124.12 million of Series 2017 revenue refunding bonds for Drexel University.

The issue was priced to yield from 1.35% with a 5% coupon in 2018 to 3.14% with a 5% coupon in 2037; a 2041 maturity was priced as 5s to yield 3.20%.

The deal is rated A3 by Moody’s and A by S&P.

Citi priced Miami Beach’s $156.65 million of stormwater revenue and revenue refunding bonds.

The deal was priced to yield from 1.39% with a 3% coupon in 2018 to 2.98% with a 5% coupon in 2037. A term bond in 2041 was priced to yield 3.03% with a 5% coupon and a term bond in 2047 was priced to yield 2.89% with a 5% coupon.

The deal is rated Aa3 by Moody’s and AA-minus by S&P.

Citi priced the New York State Housing Finance Agency’s $153.52 million of Series 2017M affordable housing revenue bonds.

The issue was priced at par to yield from 1.45% in 2019 to 2.80% and 2.85% in a split 2028 maturity, 3.15% in 2032, 3.50% in 2037, 3.65% in 2042, 3.75% in 2047 and 3.80% in 2050.

The deal is rated Aa2 by Moody’s.

Barclays priced the Guam Power Authority’s $146.45 million of revenue refunding bonds.

The bonds were priced to yield from 1.89% with a 4% coupon in 2018 to 2.18% with a 5% coupon in 2019 and from 2.51% with a 5% coupon in 2022 to 3.67% with a 5% coupon in 2038. A term bond in 2040 was priced to yield 3.68% with a 5% coupon.

The deal is rated Baa2 by Moody’s, BBB by S&P and BBB-minus by Fitch.

JPMorgan Securities priced the Maryland Health and Higher Educational Facilities Authority’s $145.27 million of tax-exempt Series 2017D revenue bonds and $44.67 million of Series 2017E taxable revenue bonds for the University of Maryland Medical System and the.

The tax-exempts were priced as 4s to yield 3.84% in a 2048 bullet maturity. The taxables were priced to yield about 137.5 basis points above the comparable Treasury security in a 2048 maturity.

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

Bank of America Merrill Lynch priced American Municipal Power Inc.’s $125 million of Series 2017A AMP Fremont Energy Center project revenue bonds refunding series.

The issue was priced to yield from 2.02% with a 5% coupon in 2023 to 2.61% with a 5% coupon in 2029; a 2042 maturity was priced as 4s to yield 3.44%.

The deal is rated A1 by Moody’s and A by S&P and Fitch.

In the competitive arena on Tuesday, the West Virginia Economic Development Authority sold $142.39 million of Series 2017 lottery refunding revenue bonds.

Morgan Stanley won the deal with a true interest cost of 3.26%. Pricing information was not available. The deal is rated A1 by Moody’s and AAA by S&P.

The Florida Department of Transportation sold $138.24 million of Series 2017A turnpike revenue refunding bonds.

Morgan Stanley won the bonds with a TIC of 1.89%. Pricing information was not available. The deal is rated Aa2 by Moody’s and AA by S&P and Fitch.

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Bond Buyer 30-day visible supply at $21.39B
The Bond Buyer's 30-day visible supply calendar decreased $2.08 billion to $21.39 billion on Tuesday. The total is comprised of $3.58 billion of competitive sales and $17.81 billion of negotiated deals.

Secondary trading
The MBIS municipal non-callable 5% GO benchmark scale was weaker in late trading.

The 10-year muni benchmark yield rose to 2.325% on Tuesday from the final read of 2.302% on Monday, according to Municipal Bond Information Services. The MBIS 30-year benchmark muni yield increased to 2.796% from 2.755%.

The MBIS benchmark index, which is comprised of investment-grade municipal securities, is updated hourly on the Bond Buyer Data Workstation.

Top-rated municipal bonds finished weaker on Tuesday. The yield on the 10-year benchmark muni general obligation rose four basis points to 2.05% from 2.01% on Monday, while the 30-year GO yield gained four basis points to 2.68% from 2.64%, according to the final read of MMD’s triple-A scale.

U.S. Treasuries were also weaker on Tuesday. The yield on the two-year Treasury rose to 1.84% from 1.83%, the 10-year Treasury yield gained to 2.42% from 2.39% and the yield on the 30-year Treasury decreased to 2.80% from 2.78%.

On Monday, the 10-year muni-to-Treasury ratio was calculated at 85.4% compared with 84.3% on Monday, while the 30-year muni-to-Treasury ratio stood at 96.4% versus 95.3%, according to MMD.

MSRB: Previous session's activity
The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board reported 41,429 trades on Monday on volume of $10.80 billion.

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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