The municipal bond market was set to see more supply on Thursday, a day after the yield on Municipal Market Data's triple-A scale for 30-year munis fell to an all-time low.
On Wednesday, the 30-year muni general obligation yield dropped three basis points to 2.45%, eclipsing its previous record low of 2.47% set in November 2012, according to MMD Senior Market Analyst Randy Smolik.
The yield on 10-year benchmark muni fell three basis points to 1.53% on Wednesday. Its all-time low, also set back in November 2012, is 1.47%, according to MMD.
On Wednesday, the 10-year muni to Treasury ratio was calculated at 88.3% compared with 88.8% on Tuesday, while the 30-year muni to Treasury ratio stood at 95.0% versus 95.0%, according to MMD.
On Thursday, U.S. Treasuries were weaker. The yield on the two-year Treasury rose to 0.74% from 0.72% on Wednesday, while the 10-year Treasury yield gained to 1.76% from 1.73% and the yield on the 30-year Treasury bond increased to 2.62% from 2.57%.
MSRB Previous Session's Activity
The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board reported 38,995 trades on Wednesday on volume of $13.84 billion.
Primary Market
JPMorgan Securities priced the Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority's $368.71 million of Series 2016 senior lien revenue refunding bonds on Thursday.
The issue was priced as 5s to yield from 1.15% in 2020 to 2.92% in 2036; a 2040 maturity was priced as 5s to yield 3.05%, a 2041 maturity was priced as 3 3/8s to yield approximately 3.528% and a 2046 maturity was priced as 5s to yield 3.13%.
Traders said the deal was very well received and met with a good reception.
The authority, one of two toll road operators in Austin, expects to see savings in a refunding of bonds it issued just five years ago.
"We thought we had a pretty good deal then, and rates are even lower now," Bill Chapman, chief financial officer for the CTRMA, told The Bond Buyer. The agency's parameters for refunding require savings of 6.5%, Chapman said. But actual savings are expected to be higher.
The issue is rated Baa2 by Moody's Investors Service and BBB-plus by S&P Global Ratings, both of which have stable outlooks on the credit.
JPMorgan also priced the Cape Fear Public Utility Authority, N.C.'s $151.8 million of Series 2016 water and sewer system refunding revenue bonds.
The issue was priced to yield from 0.72% with a 5% coupon in 2018 to 2.70% with a 3.5% coupon in 2034. The 2016 and 2017 maturities were offered as sealed bids.
The deal is rated Aa1 by Moody's and AA-plus by S&P.
The authority does not issue bonds very often. Since 2011, it has only sold two other issues totaling $109.2 million.
Bond Buyer Visible Supply
The Bond Buyer's 30-day visible supply calendar increased $162.7 million to $12.71 billion on Thursday. The total is comprised of $5.67 billion of competitive sales and $7.04 billion of negotiated deals.
Tax-Exempt Money Market Funds See Outflows
Tax-exempt money market funds experienced outflows of $1.10 billion, bringing total net assets to $214.94 billion in the week ended May 9, according to The Money Fund Report, a service of iMoneyNet.com. This followed an outflow of $1.71 billion to $216.04 billion in the previous week.
The average, seven-day simple yield for the 296 weekly reporting tax-exempt funds fell to 0.05% from 0.06% in the previous week.
The total net assets of the 892 weekly reporting taxable money funds increased $10.54 billion to $2.494 trillion in the week ended May 10, after an inflow of $6.88 billion to $2.483 trillion the week before.
The average, seven-day simple yield for the taxable money funds was unchanged from 0.10% in the prior week.
Overall, the combined total net assets of the 1,188 weekly reporting money funds increased $9.44 billion to $2.709 trillion in the period ended April 26, which followed an inflow of $5.17 billion to $2.699 trillion.
Richard Williamson contributed to this report
