Fed-week slate dominated by DASNY

bb-043018-munimid

Municipal bond buyers are eagerly awaiting this week’s new issue supply as they keep both eyes firmly on the Federal Open Market Committee’s monetary policy meeting.

Primary market
This week’s calendar totals $4.26 billion, composed of $2.89 billion of negotiated deals and $1.37 billion of competitive sales. Average weekly volume in 2017 has been about $4.5 billion, off sharply from 2017’s average of over $6 billion a week.

Topping the slate are two deals totaling $931 million from the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York, which bookend the Federal Reserve monetary policy meeting being held this week in Washington. While the FOMC is not expected to raise rates at this meeting, market participants will eye the statement released after the meeting ends on Wednesday for any hints as to the pace of future rate hikes.

Ahead of Tuesday's institutional pricing, Goldman Sachs started a retail order period on DASNY’s $325 million of Series 2018 A&B revenue bonds for Columbia University. The deal is rated triple-A by Moody’s Investors Service and S&P Global Ratings.

And then, on Thursday, Wells Fargo Securities is set to price DASNY’s $606 million of Series 2018A tax-exempt and Series 2018B taxable revenue bonds for New York University.

Also on Tuesday, Piper Jaffray is expected to price the Fort Bend Independent School District, Texas’ $141.86 million of Series 2018 refunding bonds. The deal, backed by the Permanent School Fund guarantee program, is rated AAA by S&P.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch is set to price the Massachusetts Department of Transportation’s metropolitan highway system revenue refunding subordinated bonds and commonwealth contract assistance secured bonds. The deal is rated Aa2 by Moody’s, AA by S&P and AA-plus by Fitch.

In the competitive arena on Tuesday, Prince George’s County, Md., is selling $416.76 million of Series 2018A limited tax general obligation consolidated public improvement bonds. The deal is rated triple-A by Moody’s, S&P and Fitch Ratings.

Monday’s bond sale
New York:
Click here for the DASNY retail pricing by Goldman

Secondary market
A typical Monday unfolded with fairly steady demand in the face of continued light supply — buoyed by last week’s cheapness, according to one New York trader.

“It’s Monday so the activity is firm and quiet,” he said. “But, business is steady, and we are a basis point or two lower depending on structure.”

He said business had picked up compared to last week.

“The cheapness of last week brought in buyers, and we are a little higher priced,” he said, adding demand was evident up and down the yield curve from separately managed accounts and taxable buyers, as well as insurance companies. He expected the pick up in demand to support the market heading into the week.

In secondary trade, munis were stronger at midday, according to a read of the MBIS benchmark scale. Benchmark muni yields dropped as much as a basis point all along the curve. Yields calculated on MBIS’ AAA scale were also stronger as yields declined as much as a basis point in the one- to 30-year maturities.

Munis were unchanged, according to Municipal Market Data’s AAA benchmark scale, which showed yields steady in the 10-year and 30-year maturities.

Treasury bonds were stronger, as stocks turned mixed.

On Friday, the 10-year muni-to-Treasury ratio was calculated at 84.8% while the 30-year muni-to-Treasury ratio stood at 99.5%, according to MMD.

Bond Buyer 30-day visible supply at $8.5B
The Bond Buyer's 30-day visible supply calendar increased $1.31 billion to $8.50 billion on Monday. The total is comprised of $3.92 billion of competitive sales and $4.57 billion of negotiated deals.

Prior week's actively traded issues
Revenue bonds comprised 56.21% of new issuance in the week ended April 27, down from 56.92% in the previous week, according to Markit. General obligation bonds made up 38.35% of total issuance, up from 37.91%, while taxable bonds accounted for 5.44%, up from 5.17% a week earlier.

BB-050118-MUN

Some of the most actively traded bonds by type were from New York and California issuers.

In the GO bond sector, the New York City zeroes of 2042 traded 22 times. In the revenue bond sector, the New York Transportation Development Corp. 4s of 2036 traded 82 times. And in the taxable bond sector, the California 4.6s of 2038 traded 14 times.

Previous session's activity
The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board reported 36,192 trades on Friday on volume of $10.25 billion.

California, New York and Texas were the states with the most trades, with the Golden State taking 17.857% of the market, the Empire State taking 16.213% and the Lone Star State taking 8.529%

Prior week's top underwriters
The top municipal bond underwriters of last week included Citigroup , JPMorgan Securities, RBC Capital Markets, Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley, according to Thomson Reuters data.

In the week of April 22 to April 28, Citi underwrote $1.83 billion, JPMorgan $1.82 billion, RBC $1.24 billion, BAML $832 million and Morgan Stanley $466 million.

BB-043018-UNDER

Treasury to sell $45B 4-week bills
The Treasury Department said it will sell $45 billion of four-week discount bills Tuesday. There are currently $87.001 billion of four-week bills outstanding.

Treasury auctions discount rate bills
Tender rates for the Treasury Department's $48 billion 91-day and $42 billion 182-day discount bills were higher, as the three-months incurred a 1.835% high rate, up from 1.830% the prior week, and the six-months incurred a 1.990% high rate, up from 1.985% the week before.

Coupon equivalents were 1.869% and 2.038%, respectively. The price for the 91s was 99.536153 and that for the 182s was 98.993944.

The median bid on the 91s was 1.800%. The low bid was 1.770%. Tenders at the high rate were allotted 31.05%. The bid-to-cover ratio was 2.87.

The median bid for the 182s was 1.965%. The low bid was 1.940%. Tenders at the high rate were allotted 16.11%. The bid-to-cover ratio was 3.17.

Gary Siegel contributed to this report.

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.

For reprint and licensing requests for this article, click here.
Primary bond market Higher education bonds Secondary bond market State of California State of New York New York State Dormitory Authority State of Texas City of New York, NY New York Transportation Development Corp
MORE FROM BOND BUYER