The New York City Municipal Water Finance Authority's $498 million of revenue bonds was priced for institutions on Thursday after a one-day order period for retail investors Wednesday.
Meanwhile, prices of top-rated municipal bonds were flat at mid-session, according to traders.
Primary Market
Citigroup Global Markets priced the NYC MWFA's $497.84 million of water and sewer second resolution, fixed-rate tax-exempt refunding bonds, Fiscal 2015 Series FF, to yield from 2.35% with a 4% coupon in 2025 to 3.01% with a 5% coupon in 2032; a split 2037 term bond was priced as 3 1/2s to yield 3.57% and as 4s to yield 3.52%; a 2039 term was priced as 5s to yield 3.21%.
On Wednesday, the issue was priced for retail to yield from 2.39% with a 4% coupon in 2025 to 3.03% with a 5% coupon in 2032; the split 2037 term bond was priced as 3 1/2s to yield 3.60% and as 4s to yield 3.55%; the 2039 term was priced as 5s to yield 3.24%.
The bonds are rated Aa2 by Moody's Investors Service and AA-plus by both S&P and Fitch.
Since 1995, the NYC MWFA has come to market with around $37 billion of debt. The largest issuance came in 2010, when the authority sold nearly $4 billion of bonds; the smallest issuance occurred in 1999 when it sold about $510 million of debt.
Barclays Capital received the official award Thursday on the Board of Regents of University of Texas System's $197.97 million Permanent University Fund Series 2015A refunding bonds.
The bonds were priced to yield from 0.40% with a 2% coupon in 2016 to 3.50% with a 3.25% coupon in 2035. The issue is rated triple-A by Moody's, S&P and Fitch.
Secondary Market
Prices of top-quality municipal bonds were flat. The yield on the 10-year benchmark muni general obligation was steady from 2.08% on Wednesday, while the yield on 30-year GO was unchanged from 2.88%, according to a read of Municipal Market Data's triple-A scale.
Treasury prices moved lower on Thursday on mixed economic data (strong jobless claims coupled with a weak Philadelphia Fed manufacturing report) and news the European Union talks with Greece were going nowhere. Equities slipped on lower oil prices which kept Treasury losses in check. Stocks were off about 20 points at midday
The yield on the two-year Treasury note rose to 0.60% from 0.59% on Wednesday while the 10-year yield increased to 2.08% from 2.06% and the 30-year yield rose to 2.70% from 2.68%.
On Wednesday, the 10-year muni to Treasury ratio was calculated at 100.6% versus 97.7% on Tuesday, while the 30-year muni to Treasury ratio stood at 106.8% compared to 106.6%.
Bond Buyer Visible Supply
The Bond Buyer's 30-day visible supply calendar dropped $1.005 billion to $8.834 billion on Thursday. The total is comprised of $1.903 billion competitive sales and $6.931 billion of negotiated deals.
MSRB Previous Session's Activity
The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board reported 41,826 trades on Wednesday on volume of $9.053 billion.
Most active on Wednesday, based on the number of trades, was the Pennsylvania Higher Educational Facilities Authority's 2015 Series A revenue bonds for Thomas Jefferson University 4s of 2045, which traded 312 times at an average price of 99.62, with an average yield of 4.014%.
Tax-Exempt Money Market Funds See Outflow
Tax-exempt money market funds lost $1.25 billion, reducing total net assets to $259.16 billion in the week ended Feb. 16, according to The Money Fund Report, a service of iMoneyNet.com.
The average, seven-day simple yield for the 396 weekly reporting tax-exempt funds remained unchanged at 0.01%.
The total net assets of the 992 weekly reporting taxable money funds fell $21.95 billion to $2.432 trillion in the week ended Feb. 17 from $2.454 trillion in the prior week.
The average, seven-day simple yield for the taxable money funds remained at 0.02% for the fourth consecutive week.
Overall, the combined total net assets of the 1,388 weekly reporting money funds declined by $23.20 billion to $2.691 trillion in the week ended Feb. 17, which was down from $2.714 trillion in the prior week.
Christine Albano contributed to this report.
