MTA, other pricings jump start primary

Now that the uncertainty of tax legislation and how it relates to munis is gone, market participants can focus on the upcoming calendar — as it will most likely be the last big supply week for a while, with Christmas and New Year’s right around the corner.

Primary market
This week will be atypical for the primary market, as there are some larger deals scheduled to be priced on Monday — given that with the holidays fast approaching, not as many people will be at their desks as the week goes on.

Goldman Sachs priced the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s $608.815 million of revenue refunding bonds. The bonds were priced to yield from 1.89% with a 5% coupon in 2023 to 3.314% with a 3.25% coupon in 2039. Term bonds were priced to yield 3.33% with a 4% coupon in 2042, 3.37% with a 4% coupon in 2046 and 3.456% with a 3.375% coupon in 2047. The deal is rated A1 by Moody’s Investors Service and AA-minus by S&P Global Ratings and Fitch Ratings.

Morgan Stanley priced San Francisco Public Utility Commission’s $406.775 million of water revenue bonds. The $349.395 million of 2017 sub-series D green bonds were priced to yield from 1.19% with a 2% coupon in 2018 to 2.56% with a 5% coupon in 2035.

The $48.675 million of 2017 sub-series E bonds were priced to yield from 1.57% with a 5% coupon in 2022 to 2.39% with a 5% coupon in 2031.

The $8.705 million of 2017 sub-series F bonds were priced to yield from 1.57% with a 5% coupon in 2022 to 2.39% with a 5% coupon in 2031. The deal is rated Aa3 by Moody’s and AA-minus by S&P.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch priced the Indiana Finance Authority’s $340.09 million of health system revenue bonds for the Franciscan Alliance Inc., Obligated Group. The $148.59 million of series 2017B bonds were priced to yield from 2.02% with a 5% coupon in 2022 to 2.89% with a 5% coupon in 2032.

The $191.5 million of series 2017C bonds were priced to yield from 1.80% with a 5% coupon in 2020 to 3.45% with a 4% coupon in 2039. The deal is rated Aa3 by Moody’s and AA by Fitch.

Morgan Stanley priced the Massachusetts Development Finance Agency’s $110.715 million of revenue bonds for the University of Massachusetts Healthcare Obligated Group. The bonds were priced to yield from 2.85% with a 5% coupon in 2027 to 3.14% with a 5% coupon in 2031. A term bond in 2037 was priced to yield 3.82% with a 3.625% coupon and a 2044 term was priced to yield 3.85% with a 4% coupon and 3.45% with a 5% coupon in a split maturity. The deal is rated BBB-plus by S&P and A-minus by Fitch.

Secondary market
The MBIS municipal non-callable 5% GO benchmark scale was mixed through midday trading on Monday.

The 10-year muni benchmark yield was flat at 2.274% from Friday’s final read of 2.274%, according to Municipal Bond Information Services. The MBIS 30-year benchmark muni yield decreased to 2.738% from 2.745%.

The MBIS benchmark index, which is comprised of investment-grade municipal securities, is updated hourly on the Bond Buyer Data Workstation.

Top-rated municipal bonds were weaker on Monday around midday. The yield on the 10-year benchmark muni general obligation was as many as two basis points higher from 1.99% on Friday, while the 30-year GO yield was up by as many as one basis point from 2.58%, according to a read of MMD’s triple-A scale.

U.S. Treasuries were mostly weaker on Monday around midday. The yield on the two-year Treasury dipped to 1.83% from 1.84%, the 10-year Treasury yield climbed to 2.38% from 2.36% and the yield on the 30-year Treasury rose to 2.75% from 2.69%.

On Friday, the 10-year muni-to-Treasury ratio was calculated at 84.5% compared with 84.8% on Thursday, while the 30-year muni-to-Treasury ratio stood at 96.0% versus 94.8%, according to MMD.

Previous week's top underwriters
The top municipal bond underwriters of last week included JPMorgan Securities, Morgan Stanley, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs and Citi, according to Thomson Reuters data.

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In the week of Dec. 10 to Dec. 16, JPMorgan $2.98 billion, Morgan Stanley $2.68 billion, BAML underwrote $2.26 billion, Goldman $2.13 billion and Citi $1.91 billion.

Prior week's actively traded issues
Revenue bonds comprised 55.23% of new issuance in the week ended Dec. 15, down from 55.93% in the previous week, according to Markit. General obligation bonds made up 38.47% of total issuance, up from 38.20%, while taxable bonds accounted for 6.30%, up from 5.87% a week earlier.

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Some of the most actively traded bonds by type were from Connecticut, Michigan and California issuers.

In the GO bond sector, the Connecticut 5s of 2018 were traded 57 times. In the revenue bond sector, the Michigan Finance Authority 5s of 2047 were traded 55 times. And in the taxable bond sector, the San Jose, Calif., Redevelopment Successor Agency 3.375s of 2034 were traded 78 times.

MSRB: Previous session's activity
The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board reported 44,094 trades on Friday on volume of $18.712 billion.

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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Primary bond market Secondary bond market Metropolitan Transportation Authority Indiana Finance Authority State of Connecticut
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