

Top-shelf municipal bonds were mostly unchanged, according to traders, who saw the last issuance of the week trickle in and the market starting to settle down.
Primary Market
"Deals were getting put away, as there was more action today," a New York trader said. It's "no coincidence that happened on the only day this week yields did not rise. I would anticipate the deals that were originally expected to price this week will be back the week after Thanksgiving."
Though some major negotiated sales were priced, the supply that ended up coming this week was only a fraction of what was originally expected, as rising yields prompted other issuers to place deals on the day-to-day calendar.
Bond fund withdrawals were probably part of the reason deals had to be pulled, said Randy Smolik, senior market analyst at Municipal Market Data. He estimated that outflows may top $2 billion for the week.
On Thursday, Bank of America Merrill Lynch priced the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority's $513.99 million of measure R senior sales tax revenue bonds for institutional investors, after holding a retail order period on Wednesday. The bonds were priced for institutions to yield from 1.01% with a 5% coupon in 2018 to 3.64% with a 3.50% coupon and to yield 3.24% with a 5% coupon in a split 2039 maturity. The 2017 maturity was offered as a sealed bid. The deal is rated Aa1 by Moody's Investors Service and triple-A by S&P Global Ratings.
Barclays priced the Massachusetts Development Finance Agency's $207.56 million of revenue bonds for Emerson College. The $194.08 million of tax-exempt Series 2016A bonds were priced to yield from 2.74% with a 5% coupon in 2022 to 3.58% with a 5% coupon in 2026. The bonds were also priced to yield from 4.02% with a 5% coupon in 2031 to 4.28% with a 5% coupon in 2036. A term bond in 2042 was priced to yield 4.35% with a 5.25% coupon and a term bond in 2047 was priced to yield 4.51% with a 5% coupon. For the $13.475 million of taxable were priced at par to yield from 2.957% in 2019 to 3.563% in 2021. The 2019 maturity was around 165 basis points above the comparable Treasury, while the 2021 maturity was around 185 basis points above the comparable Treasury. The deal is rated Baa2 by Moody's and BBB-plus by S&P.
RBC Capital Markets priced the City and County of Denver, Colo.'s Department of Aviation Airport System's $257.905 million of revenue bonds. The bonds were priced to yield from 0.98% with a 5% coupon in 2017 to 2.61% with a 5% coupon in 2025. The bonds were also priced to yield from 3.21% with a 5% coupon in 2031 to 3.28% with a 5% coupon in 2032. The deal is rated A1 by Moody's and A-plus by S&P and Fitch Ratings.
Piper Jaffray received the written award on the Sonoma County, Calif., Junior College District's $145.795 million of election 2014 general obligation bonds and GO refunding bonds. The $125 million of GO bonds were priced to yield from 0.90% with a 3% coupon in 2017 to 3.18% with a 5% coupon in 2035. A term bond in 2037 was priced to yield 3.58% with a 4.5% coupon and a term bond in 2041 was priced to yield 3.31% with a 5% coupon.
The $20.795 million of GO refunding bonds were priced to yield 0.90% with a 3% coupon in 2017 and from 2.14% with a 5% coupon in 2024 to 2.83% with a 5% coupon and 3.23% with a 3.25% coupon in a split 2029 maturity. The deal is rated Aa2 by Moody's and AA-minus by S&P.
Morgan Stanley priced Bexar County, Texas's $112.23 million of combination tax and revenue certificates of obligation. The $92.255 million of series 2016A bonds were priced to yield from 1.18% with a 3% coupon in 2018 to 3.31% with a 5% coupon in 2036. A term bond in 2041 was priced to yield 3.41% with a 5% coupon and a term bond in 2045 was priced to yield 3.80% with a 4% coupon.
The $19.975 million of series 2016B bonds were priced to yield from 1.18% with a 5% coupon in 2018 to 3.07% with a 5% coupon in 2031. The deal is rated triple-A by Moody's, S&P and Fitch.
In the competitive arena, Clark County, Nev., sold three issues totaling roughly $362.895 million. The largest deal is $257.215 million of general obligation limited tax refunding bonds, won by JPMorgan with a true interest cost of 2.00%. The bonds were priced to yield from 1.20% with a 5% coupon in 2018 to 2.41% with a 5% coupon in 2024.
The $57.695 million of GO limited tax refunding plus additionally pledged revenue bonds, were won by JPM with a TIC of 2.71% and $47.985 million of GO limited tax various purpose bonds, were won by Citi with a TIC of 3.03%. All three deals are rated A1 by Moody's and AA-minus by S&P.
The state of New Hampshire sold a total of $113.52 million in two separate competitive sales. The larger sale consisted of $62.105 million of GO capital improvement bonds, which were won by Wells Fargo with a TIC of 2.77%. The other sale of $51.415 million of GO refunding bonds was won by Citi with a TIC of 1.62%. The deal is rated Aa1 by Moody's, AA by S&P and AA-plus by Fitch.
Since 2006, the Granite State has sold roughly $2.19 billion of securities, with the largest issuance occurring in 2010, when it sold $428 million. New Hampshire didn't come to market at all in 2007. The last time the state issued competitive bonds was on Dec. 11, 2014, when Citi won $55 million with a TIC of 2.62%
Secondary Market
Munis were mostly steady on Thursday, though five maturities on the front end of the curve increased by as many as three basis points. The yield on the 10-year benchmark muni general obligation was steady from 2.21% on Wednesday, while the yield on the 30-year was unchanged at 3.01%, according to a final read of MMD's triple-A scale.
U.S. Treasuries were weaker at the close on Thursday. The yield on the two-year was up to 1.03% from 1.00% from Wednesday, the 10-year Treasury was higher at 2.28% from 2.22%, while the yield on the 30-year Treasury bond increased to 2.99% from 2.92%.
The 10-year muni to Treasury ratio was calculated at 97.2% on Thursday compared to 99.5% on Wednesday, while the 30-year muni to Treasury ratio stood at 100.7% versus 102.9%, according to MMD.
Tax-Exempt Money Market Fund Inflows
Tax-exempt money market funds experienced inflows of $303.1 million, bringing total net assets to $129.59 billion in the week ended Nov. 14, according to The Money Fund Report, a service of iMoneyNet.com. This followed an inflow of $1.14 billion to $129.29 billion in the previous week.
The average, seven-day simple yield for the 237 weekly reporting tax-exempt funds dropped to 0.15% from 0.16% in the previous week.
The total net assets of the 866 weekly reporting taxable money funds increased $6.51 billion to $2.524 trillion in the week ended Nov. 15, after an inflow of $13.13 billion to $2.517 trillion the week before.
The average, seven-day simple yield for the taxable money funds increased to 0.15% from 0.14% from the prior week.
Overall, the combined total net assets of the 1,103 weekly reporting money funds rose $6.81 billion to $2.654 trillion in the week ended Nov. 15 after inflows of $14.27 billion to $2.647 trillion in the prior week.