Municipal bonds were mixed at mid-session with some Puerto Rico issues trading higher as the primary saw a bevy of new deals hit the screens.
Primary market
Bank of America Merrill Lynch priced the Lower Colorado River Authority, Texas’ $292.15 million of Series 2018 transportation contract refunding revenue bonds for the LCRA Transmission Services Corp. project.
Citigroup priced the Sacramento Municipal Utility District, Calif.’s $166.59 million of Series 2018F electric revenue refunding bonds.
JPMorgan Securities is expected to price the Tri-County Metropolitan Transportation District of Oregon’s $147.475 million of Series 2018A senior lien payroll tax revenue bonds.
Notes also feature prominently this week.
Stifel is set to price Riverside County, Calif.’s $340 million of 2018 tax and revenue anticipation notes.
Raymond James & Associates is expected to price the Houston Independent School District, Texas’ $200 million of maintenance tax notes.
Goldman Sachs received the official award on Los Angeles County’s $700 million of 2018-2019 tax and revenue anticipation notes.
In the competitive arena, Arlington County, Va., sold $153.555 million of Series 2018 general obligation public improvement bonds.
Wells Fargo Securities won the bonds with a true interest cost of 2.99%.
Since 2008, Arlington County has sold about $1.69 billion of securities, with the most issuance occurring in 2012 when it sold $219 million and the least in 2015 when it sold $77 million.
Loudoun County, Va., sold $148.275 million of Series 2018A general obligation public improvement bonds.
Citi won the bonds with a TIC of 2.9802%.
Evergreen School District No. 114, Wash., sold $114.7 million of unlimited tax Series 2018 GOs under the Washington state school district credit enhancement program.
Citi won the bonds with a TIC of 3.192%.
The Illinois Regional Transportation Authority sold $134.025 million of Series 2018B GOs.
Morgan Stanley won the bonds with a TIC of 3.822%.
Wednesday’s bond sales
Texas:
California:
Virginia:
Washington:
Bond Buyer 30-day visible supply at $10.33B
The Bond Buyer's 30-day visible supply calendar decreased $3.20 billion to $10.33 billion on Wednesday. The total is comprised of $5.13 billion of competitive sales and $5.21 billion of negotiated deals.
Secondary market
Municipal bonds were mixed on Wednesday, according to a midday read of the MBIS benchmark scale. Benchmark muni yields rose as much as one basis point in the one- and two-year, 11- to 13-year and 17- to 30-year maturities, fell as much as one basis point in the three- to nine-year and 14- to 16-year maturities and were unchanged in the 10-year maturity.
High-grade munis were also mixed, with yields calculated on MBIS’ AAA scale rising as much as one basis point in the one- and two-year, 12- and 13-year and 16- to 28-year maturities, falling in the three- to 11-year, 14-year and 30-year maturities and remaining unchanged in the 15-year and 29-year maturities.
Municipals were mixed on Municipal Market Data’s AAA benchmark scale, which showed yields as much as two basis point higher in the 10-year general obligation muni and two to four basis points higher in the 30-year muni maturity.
Treasury bonds were weaker as stock prices traded higher.
On Monday, the 10-year muni-to-Treasury ratio was calculated at 83.1% while the 30-year muni-to-Treasury ratio stood at 95.3%, according to MMD. The muni-to-Treasury ratio compares the yield of tax-exempt municipal bonds with the yield of taxable U.S. Treasury with comparable maturities. If the muni/Treasury ratio is above 100%, munis are yielding more than Treasury; if it is below 100%, munis are yielding less.
Puerto Rico bonds trading higher
Bondholders representatives on Puerto Rico’s about $18 billion each of general obligation and the Puerto Rico Sales Tax Financing Corp. bonds have reached an agreement to settle a dispute over sales tax revenue, according to published reports.
In active trading on Wednesday, the benchmark Puerto Rico Commonwealth Series 2014 GO 8s of 2035 were trading at a high price of 42 cents on the dollar compared to 41.125 cents on Tuesday, according to the MSRB’s EMMA website. Volume totaled $32.37 million in 21 trades compared to $690,000 in six trades on Tuesday.
The COFINA Series 2007A revenue 5.25s of 2057 were trading at a high price of 76.25 cents on the dollar compared to 68 cents on Tuesday, according to the EMMA website. Volume totaled $60.71 million in 20 trades compared to $10,000 in two trades on Tuesday.
The COFINA Series 2007B revenue 6.05s of 2036 traded at a high price of 77 cents on the dollar compared to 69 cents on Tuesday, according to the EMMA website. Volume totaled $11.76 million in 15 trades compared to $20.02 million in 17 trades on Tuesday.
The COFINA Series 2011C current interest revenue 5.25s of 2040 traded at a high price of 75.25 cents on the dollar compared to 67.633 cents on Tuesday, according to the EMMA website. Volume totaled $26.21 million in 13 trades compared to $670,000 in six trades on Tuesday.
Previous session's activity
The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board reported 43,356 trades on Tuesday on volume of $14.07 billion.
California, New York and Texas were the states with the most trades, with the Golden State taking 14.204% of the market, the Empire State taking 11.536% and the Lone Star State taking 10.074%.
Data appearing in this article from Municipal Bond Information Services, including the MBIS municipal bond index, is available on The Bond Buyer Data Workstation.
