The municipal bond market on Tuesday saw a big California issuer sell the largest competitive deal of the week while a New York issuer is holding the second day of retail orders for its bonds.
Prices of top-rated municipal bonds were mixed at mid-session, according to traders.
Primary Market
On Tuesday, Ramirez & Co. repriced the New York City Transitional Finance Authority's $750 million of building aid revenue bonds for retail investors. The issue has a second day of orders for mom and pop investors on Tuesday before being priced for institutions on Wednesday.
Traders reported the deal was repriced from Monday's levels, with yields on many maturities now as much as five basis point stronger.
The bonds are rated Aa2 Moody's Investors Service and AA by S&P and Fitch.
The largest competitive sale of the week went up for bid late this morning. Morgan Stanley won the $131 million Orange County Sanitation District, Calif., wastewater refunding obligations with a true interest cost of 3.2963%. No other information was immediately available. The issue is rated AAA by Standard & Poor's and Fitch Ratings.
Secondary Market
Prices of top-quality municipal bonds were mixed on Tuesday. The yield on the benchmark 10-year general obligation was up as much as one basis point from 1.84% on Monday, while the yield on 30-year GOs was down as much as one basis point from 2.63%, according to a read of Municipal Market Data's triple-A scale.
Treasury prices were mixed on Tuesday, with the two-year note yield down to 0.54% from 0.55% on Monday. The 10-year yield rose to 1.93% from 1.91%, while the 30-year yield increased to 2.52% from 2.49%.
On Monday, the 10-year muni to Treasury ratio was at 96.3% compared to 95.6% on Friday, while the 30-year muni to Treasury ratio was at 105.6% versus 104.6%.
MSRB Reports Previous Session's Activity
The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board reported 33,594 trades on Monday on volume of $5.926 billion. Most active on Monday, based on the number of trades, was the New Jersey Transportation Trust Fund Authority transportation program bonds, Series AA 4 1/4s of 2044, which traded 164 times with an average price of 102.714 and an average yield of 3.878%.
