More municipal bond volume hit traders' screens on Thursday as muni yields began to stabilize after a five-session decline.
Secondary market
The MBIS municipal non-callable 5% GO benchmark scale was mixed in late trading.
The 10-year muni benchmark yield rose to 2.207% on Thursday from the final read of 2.204% on Tuesday, according to
The MBIS benchmark index is updated hourly on the
Top-rated municipal bonds finished mixed on Thursday, the first time the 30-year muni yield has risen this month.
The yield on the 10-year benchmark muni general obligation was unchanged from 1.88% on Wednesday, while the 30-year GO yield gained three basis points to 2.49% from 2.46%, according to the final read of MMD’s triple-A scale.
The last time prior to Thursday that yields rose was on Nov. 29, when the 10-year muni stood at 2.21% and the 30-year muni was at 2.85%.
U.S. Treasuries were weaker on Thursday. The yield on the two-year Treasury rose to 1.81% from 1.80%, the 10-year Treasury yield gained to 2.38% from 2.33% and the yield on the 30-year Treasury increased to 2.77% from 2.71%.
On Thursday, the 10-year muni-to-Treasury ratio was calculated at 79.3% compared with 83.9% on Tuesday, while the 30-year muni-to-Treasury ratio stood at 89.8% versus 95.9%, according to MMD.
MSRB: Previous session's activity
The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board reported 51,283 trades on Wednesday on volume of $17.99 billion.
Primary market
JPMorgan Securities priced the Illinois Finance Authority’s $709.14 million of Series 2017A&B revenue bonds for Northwestern Memorial Healthcare.
The $546.18 million of Series 2017A revenue bonds were priced to yield from 1.20% with a 5% coupon in 2018 to 3.17% with a 4% coupon in 2037. A 2042 maturity was priced as 5s to yield 2.86% in 2042 and a 2047 maturity was priced as 4s to yield 3.36%. The $162.97 million of Series 2017B bonds were priced as 5s to yield 1.91% in a 2057 bullet maturity with a mandatory put date of 2022.
The deal is rated Aa2 by Moody’s Investors Service and AA-plus by S&P Global Ratings.
Since 2007, the Illinois Finance Authority has issued roughly $27.77 billion of bonds, with the most issuance occurring in 2008 when it sold $4.6 billion of bonds. The authority saw a low year of issuance in 2014 when it sold $1.09 billion.
RBC Capital Markets priced the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority’s $684.36 million of turnpike system bonds.
The $312.84 million of Series 2017C second senior revenue bonds were priced to yield from 1.85% with a 5% coupon in 2029 to 3.125% at par and 2.60% with a 5% coupon in a split 2037 maturity. A split 2042 maturity was priced at par to yield 3.20% and as 4s to yield 3.00% and a split 2047 maturity was priced at par to yield 3.25% and as 5s to yield 2.69%. The $275.68 million of Series 2017D refunding second senior revenue bonds were priced to yield from 1.22% with a 4% coupon in 2018 to 2.14% with a 5% coupon in 2028. The $95.84 million of Series 2017E refunding second senior revenue bonds were priced to yield 1.22% with a 4% coupon in 2018 and from 1.74% with a 4% coupon in 2023 to 2.85% at par and 2.65% with a 4% coupon in a split 2031 maturity.
The deal is rated Aa3 by Moody’s and AA-minus by S&P and Fitch.
RBC also priced the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency’s $300.21 million of single-family mortgage revenue bonds for institutions after holding a one-day retail order period.
The $175.21 million of Series 2017-125A bonds subject to the alternative minimum tax were priced at par to yield 1.50% and 1.55% in a split 2018 maturity, 2.375% in 2025, and from 2.90% and 2.95% in a split 2026 maturity to 3.15% and 3.20% in a split 2028 maturity, and 3.40% in 2032 and 3.70% in 2037. The $125 million of Series 2017-125B non-AMT bonds were priced at par to yield 3.65% in 2042 and 3.70% in 2047.
The deal is rated Aa2 by Moody’s and AA-plus by S&P.
Goldman Sachs priced the California Infrastructure and Economic development Bank’s $171.19 million of Series 2017 revenue bonds for UCSF 2130 Third Street.
The issue was priced as 5s to yield from 1.41% in 2021 to 2.42% in 2037, 2.51% in 2042, 3.56% in 2047 and 2.66% in 2052. The deal is rated Aa3 by Moody’s and AA by S&P.
Wells Fargo Securities priced Upland, Texas’ $132.2 million of certificates of participation for the San Antonio Regional Hospital.
The issue was priced to yield from 2.26% with a 5% coupon in 2022 to 3.57% with a 4% coupon in 2036. A 2042 maturity was priced as 4s to yield 3.58% and a 2047 maturity was priced as 5s to yield 3.24%. The COPs are rated Baa2 by Moody’s and BBB-plus by S&P.
In the competitive arena, the Florida Board of Education sold $272.91 million of Series 2017C public education capital outlay refunding bonds.
Morgan Stanley won the bonds with a true interest cost of 2.8565%. The issue was priced to yield from 1.39% with a 5% coupon in 2019 to 3.109% with a 3% coupon in 2040. The deal is rated Aa1 by Moody’s and AAA by S&P and Fitch.
Ohio sold $496.86 million of general obligation bonds in four separate sales.
Citigroup won the $196.74 million of Series 2017C higher education refunding bonds with a TIC of 1.9183%. The issue was priced as 5s to yield from 1.73% in 2024 to 2.03% in 2028. Citi won the $69.74 million of Series 2017B infrastructure improvement refunding bonds with a TIC of 2.0496%, and the $24.01 million of Series V natural resources refunding bonds with a TIC of 1.897%. JPMorgan Securities won the $206.37 million of Series 2017B common schools refunding bonds with a true interest cost of 1.9179%. Pricing information was not available.
The deals are rated Aa1 by Moody’s and AA-plus by S&P and Fitch.
Clark County, Nev., sold $126.16 million of Series 2017C limited tax GO Las Vegas Convention and Visitor Authority crossover refunding bonds additionally secured with pledged revenues.
RBC won the bonds with a TIC of 2.9163%. The deal was priced to yield from 1.59% with a 5% coupon in 2021 to 3.07% with a 3.50% coupon in 2038. The deal is rated Aa1 by Moody’s and AA-plus by S&P.
Bond Buyer 30-day visible supply at $15.95B
The Bond Buyer's 30-day visible supply calendar decreased $2.66 billion to $15.95 billion on Thursday. The total is comprised of $5.08 billion of competitive sales and $10.87 billion of negotiated deals.
Tax-exempt money market funds saw inflows
Tax-exempt money market funds experienced inflows of $1.06 billion, bringing total net assets to $130.23 billion in the week ended Dec. 4, according to The Money Fund Report, a service of iMoneyNet.com. This followed an outflow of $596.3 million to $129.17 billion in the previous week.
The average, seven-day simple yield for the 199 weekly reporting tax-exempt funds increased to 0.51% from 0.50% in the previous week.
The total net assets of the 831 weekly reporting taxable money funds increased $18.54 billion to $2.648 trillion in the week ended Dec. 5, after an inflow of $22.77 billion to $2.629 trillion the week before.
The average, seven-day simple yield for the taxable money funds rose to 0.74% from 0.73% from the prior week.
Overall, the combined total net assets of the 1,030 weekly reporting money funds increased $19.60 billion to $2.778 trillion in the week ended Dec. 5, after inflows of $22.18 billion to $2.758 trillion in the prior week.
Data appearing in this article from Municipal Bond Information Services, including the MBIS municipal bond index, is available on The Bond Buyer Data Workstation.
