Top-rated municipal bonds finished stronger on Wednesday, according to traders, as more volume hit the market.
In the competitive arena on Wednesday, Louisiana sold $187.62 million of Series 2017A general obligation bonds.
Bank of America Merrill Lynch won the bonds with a true interest cost of 3.45%. The issue was priced to yield from 1.03% with a 5% coupon in 2018 to 3.80% with a 4% coupon in 2035; a 2037 maturity was priced as 4s to yield 3.91%.
The deal is rated Aa3 by Moody's Investors Service and AA-minus by S&P Global Ratings and Fitch Ratings.
The New Jersey Educational Facilities Authority sold $128.32 million of Series 2017C revenue bonds for Princeton University.
Morgan Stanley won the bonds with a TIC of 3.50%. The issue was priced as 5s to yield from 1.26% in 2020 to 2.98% in 2038; a 2042 maturity was priced as 5s to yield 3.03%, a 2044 maturity was priced as 4s to yield 3.35% and a 2047 maturity was priced as 4s to yield 3.38%.
The deal is rated triple-A by Moody's and S&P.
BAML priced the North Carolina Turnpike Authority's $203.09 million of Series 2017 senior lien turnpike revenue refunding bonds for the Triangle Expressway System.
The issue was priced to yield from 1.18% with a 5% coupon in 2018 to 3.47% with a 5% coupon in 2032. A term bond in 2039 was priced to yield 3.58% with a 5% coupon.
The deal is rated BBB by S&P and BBB-minus by Fitch with the exception of the 2024, 2026 through 2029, 2031 and 2039 maturities, which total $117.185 million and are insured by Assured Guaranty Municipal Corp., and are rated A2 by Moody's and AA by S&P.
Goldman Sachs priced the Oregon Department of Administration Services' $230.92 million of tax-exempt and taxable state lottery revenue bonds.
The $93.28 million of Series 2017A tax-exempts were priced as 5s to yield from 2.59% in 2028 to 3.18% in 2037. The $63.9 million of Series 2017C tax-exempt refunding bonds were priced to yield from 1.50% with a 4% coupon in 2021 to 2.93% with a 5% coupon in 2032. The $73.74 million of taxables were priced at par to yield from 1.25% in 2018 to 3.196% in 2028.
The deal is rated Aa2 by Moody's and AAA by S&P.
Since 2007, the Beaver State has sold over $5 billion of bonds, with the most issuance prior to this year occurring in 2013 when it offered almost $712 million of debt.
On Thursday, the North Texas Municipal Water District is competitively selling $112.26 of bonds in two separate offerings.
The sales consist of $74.94 million of Series 2017 regional wastewater system revenue bonds, rated Aa2 by Moody's and AAA by S&P, and $37.32 million of Series 2017 contract revenue bonds for the Upper East Fork wastewater interceptor system, rated Aa1 by Moody's and AAA by S&P.
Secondary Market
The yield on the 10-year benchmark muni general obligation on Wednesday fell three basis points to 2.30% from 2.33% on Tuesday, while the 30-year GO yield dropped three basis points to 3.10% from 3.13%, according to the final read of Municipal Market Data's triple-A scale.
U.S. Treasuries were stronger in late trade on Wednesday with stock prices little changed after falling about 1% on Tuesday.
The yield on the two-year dipped to 1.25% from 1.26% on Tuesday, while the 10-year Treasury yield declined to 2.39% from 2.43%, and the yield on the 30-year Treasury bond decreased to 3.01% from 3.04%.
"Equity markets in the United States appear to be stabilizing after weathering the steepest decline year-to-date in the prior session," ICE Data Services wrote in a Wednesday market comment, "while safe-haven government bonds remain seemingly well bid despite the reversal in stocks."
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down about 0.07% in late trading.
The 10-year muni to Treasury ratio was calculated at 96.1% on Wednesday, compared with 95.8% on Tuesday, while the 30-year muni to Treasury ratio stood at 103.0%, versus 102.6%, according to MMD.
MSRB: Previous Session's Activity
The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board reported 42,580 trades on Tuesday on volume of $11.46 billion.
