More deals hit the market as muni yields stabilize

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 Municipal Bond Information Services. The MBIS 30-year benchmark muni yield decreased to 2.667% from 2.688%.

The MBIS benchmark index is updated hourly on the Bond Buyer Data Workstation.

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.

BB-120817-MUN

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. Click here for a brief tour of the Workstation, or contact Vanessa Kim at 212-803-8474 for more information.

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