Only a handful of larger deals remain for pricing in the market on Wednesday, as comprehensive tax reform is imminent.
Secondary market
The MBIS municipal non-callable 5% GO benchmark scale was weaker in early trading Wednesday morning.
The 10-year muni benchmark yield rose to 2.346% from Tuesday’s final read of 2.329%, according to
The MBIS benchmark index, which is comprised of investment-grade municipal securities, is updated hourly on the
Top-rated municipal bonds were weaker still on Wednesday morning. The yield on the 10-year benchmark muni general obligation was between two and four basis points higher from 2.08% on Tuesday, while the 30-year GO was also up between two and four basis points from 2.68%, according to a read of MMD’s triple-A scale.
U.S. Treasuries were weaker on Wednesday morning. The yield on the two-year Treasury inched up to 1.86% from 1.85%, the 10-year Treasury yield climbed to 2.48% from 2.46% and the yield on the 30-year Treasury rose to 2.85% from 2.82%.
On Tuesday, the 10-year muni-to-Treasury ratio was calculated at 84.5% compared with 84.9% on Monday, while the 30-year muni-to-Treasury ratio stood at 94.9% versus 96.6%, according to MMD.
MSRB: Previous session's activity
The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board reported 51,921 trades on Tuesday on volume of $17.126 billion.
Bond Buyer 30-day visible supply
The Bond Buyer's 30-day visible supply calendar decreased $5.69 billion to $6.68 billion on Wednesday. The total is comprised of $621 million of competitive sales and $6.06 billion of negotiated deals.
Primary market
After yet another deal-fueled day, the muni market is winding down as the holiday weekend inches closer.
The biggest deal of the week may price on Wednesday, after
As of press time on Tuesday, the deal was “still being worked on” according to the syndicate, which also indicated it could come on Wednesday. The deal is rated Aa3 by Moody’s Investors Service and AA by S&P Global Ratings.
Jefferies sent around a pre-marketing scale on the Railsplitter Tobacco Settlement Authority, Ill.’s $678.61 million of settlement revenue bonds on Tuesday, ahead of institutional pricing on Wednesday. The premarketing has the 2022 maturity about 85 basis points above the comparable Treasury and the 2028 maturity about 100 basis points above the comparable Treasury. The deal is rated A by S&P with the exception of the 2028 maturity, which is rated A-minus by S&P.
Bank of America Merrill Lynch is scheduled to price the Virginia Housing Development Authority’s $600 million of rental housing bonds.
JPMorgan is expected to price the Nebraska Investment Finance Authority’s $448.055 million of single family housing revenue bonds. The deal is rated AA-plus by S&P.
Since 2007, NIFA has issued roughly $2.95 billion of bonds, with the most issuance occurring in 2010 when it sold $678 million of bonds. The authority did not come to market in 2012.
Data appearing in this article from Municipal Bond Information Services, including the MBIS municipal bond index, is available on The Bond Buyer Data Workstation.
