JPMorgan Securities won the week’s largest bond deal — Pennsylvania’s $974 million of general obligation bonds. In secondary trading, municipals were stronger at midday.
Primary market
Pennsylvania sold $973.99 million of its first refunding series of 2017 general obligation refunding bonds.
JPMorgan won the bonds with a true interest cost of 2.3629%. Pricing information was not immediately available.
The deal is rated Aa3 by Moody’s Investors Service, A-plus by S&P Global Ratings and AA-minus by Fitch Ratings.
Since 2007, the Keystone State has issued about $16.8 billion of debt with the most issuance occurring in 2016 when it sold $2.81 billion and the least in 2008 when it sold $705 million.
Also in the competitive arena, the Washoe County School District, Nev., sold $252.25 million of GOs in two separate sales.
Bank of America Merrill Lynch won the $200 million of Series 2017C limited tax GO school improvement bonds additionally secured by pledged revenues with a TIC of 3.3203%.
The issue was priced to yield from 1.31% with a 5% coupon in 2020 to 3.27% with a 3.125% coupon in 2040. A 2042 maturity was priced as 3 1/4s to yield 3.32% and a 2047 maturity was priced as 4s to yield 3.30%.
The bonds are rated A1 by Moody’s and AA by S&P except for the 2035-2040 and 2042 maturities which are insured by Assured Guaranty Municipal and are rated A2 by Moody’s and AA by S&P.
JPMorgan won the $52.25 million of Series 2017D limited tax GO school refunding bonds with a TIC of 2.4191%. The deal is rated A1 by Moody’s and AA by S&P.
In the negotiated sector, Siebert Cisneros Shank priced the New York Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority’s $728.02 million of Series 2017C general revenue refunding bonds for MTA bridges and tunnels for institutions after holding a one-day retrial order period.
The issue was priced for institutions to yield from 1.55% with a 5% coupon in 2023 to 2.16% with a 5% coupon in 2028. The deal is rated Aa3 by Moody’s, AA-minus by S&P and Fitch and AA by Kroll Bond Rating Agency.
Bank of America Merrill Lynch priced Massachusetts' $564.8 million of Series 2017A transportation fund revenue bonds for rail enhancement and accelerated bridge programs and Series 2017A transportation fund revenue refunding bonds.
The $350 million of revenue bonds were priced as 5s to yield from 1.10% in 2019 to 2.27% in 2037, 2.68% in 2042 and 2.73% in 2047. The $214.8 million of revenue refunding bonds were priced as 5s to yield 1.98% in 2027 and 2.09% in 2030 and from 2.27% with a 5% coupon in 2030 to 2.69% with a 5% coupon in 2043.
The deal is rated Aa1 by Moody’s and AAA by S&P.
Citigroup priced Harris County, Texas’ $341.74 million of Series 2017A permanent improvement refunding bonds, road refunding bonds, and flood control district contract tax refunding bonds.
The $138.07 million of permanent improvement refunding bonds were priced as 5s to yield from 1.10% in 2018 to 2.67% in 2038; a 2043 maturity was priced as 4s to yield 3.06%.
The $35.36 million of road refunding bonds were priced as 5s to yield from 1.55% in 2022 to 2.38% in 2031.
The $168.31 million of flood control district contract tax refunding bonds were priced to yield 1.10% with a 5% coupon in 2018 and from 1.78% with a 5% coupon in 2024 to 3.01% with a 4% coupon in 2039.
The deal is backed by the Permanent School Fund guarantee program and is rated AAA by S&P and Fitch.
NYC MWFA to sell $400M next week
The New York City Municipal Water Finance Authority said on Wednesday that it plans to sell $400 million of tax-exempt fixed-rate bonds on Tuesday, Nov. 14, after holding a one-day retail order period.
Proceeds from the sale will be used to fund capital projects and refund outstanding debt, the MWFA said.
The bonds will negotiated through the authority’s underwriting syndicate led by bookrunning lead manager Barclays and joint lead manager The Williams Capital Group. Raymond James and Siebert Cisneros Shank & Co. will serve as co-senior managers.
Bond Buyer reports 30-day visible supply
The Bond Buyer's 30-day visible supply calendar decreased $3.06 billion to $9.01 billion on Wednesday. The total is comprised of $4.08 billion of competitive sales and $4.93 billion of negotiated deals.
Secondary market
Top-quality municipal bonds were stronger at midday.
The yield on the 10-year benchmark muni general obligation fell as much as two basis points from 1.92% on Tuesday, while the 30-year GO yield dropped as much as two basis points from 2.60%, according to a read of Municipal Market Data's triple-A scale.
U.S. Treasuries were narrowly mixed on Wednesday. The yield on the two-year Treasury was flat from 1.64%, the 10-year Treasury yield gained to 2.32% from 2.31% and yield on the 30-year Treasury increased to 2.78% from 2.77%.
On Tuesday, the 10-year muni-to-Treasury ratio was calculated at 83.3% compared with 84.6% on Monday, while the 30-year muni-to-Treasury ratio stood at 93.9% versus 95.8%, according to MMD.
AP-MBIS 10-year muni at 2.229%, 30-year at 2.742%
The Associated Press-MBIS municipal non-callable 5% GO benchmark scale was stronger at mid-session.
The 10-year muni benchmark yield fell to 2.229% from the final read of 2.236% on Tuesday, according to
The AP-MBIS benchmark index is a yield curve built on market data aggregated from MBIS member firms and is updated hourly on the
MSRB: Previous session's activity
The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board reported 38,440 trades on Tuesday on volume of $11.60 billion.
Data appearing in this article from Municipal Bond Information Services, including the AP-MBIS municipal bond index, is available on the Bond Buyer Data Workstation.
