Municipal bonds were stronger at midday, according to traders, who were wrapping up their business ahead of the full market close for Good Friday.
Trading will resume after the Easter weekend on Monday, and the market will be looking at a more substantial new issue slate next week.
Ipreo estimates municipal bond volume at $6.82 billion, up from a revised total of $4.57 billion this week, according to updated data from Thomson Reuters. The upcoming calendar is comprised of $5.55 billion of negotiated deals and $1.28 billion of competitive sales.
Secondary market
The yield on the 10-year benchmark muni general obligation fell three to four basis points from 2.12% on Wednesday, while the 30-year GO yield was down two to three basis points from 2.94%, according to a read of Municipal Market Data's triple-A scale.
U.S. Treasuries were stronger on Thursday. The yield on the two-year Treasury dropped to 1.21% from 1.23% on Wednesday, while the 10-year Treasury yield fell to 2.25% from 2.29%, and the yield on the 30-year Treasury bond decreased to 2.91% from 2.93%.
On Wednesday, the 10-year muni to Treasury ratio was calculated at 92.5% compared to 92.6% on Tuesday, while the 30-year muni to Treasury ratio stood at 100.4%, versus 100.3%, according to MMD.
MSRB: Previous session's activity
The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board reported 41,234 trades on Wednesday on volume of $13.83 billion.
Week's most actively traded issues
Some of the most actively traded issues by type in the week ended April 14 were from Alaska, California and Maryland, according to
In the GO bond sector, the Anchorage, Alaska, 2s of 2017 were traded 34 times.
In the revenue bond sector, the California State Public Works Board 5s of 2027 were traded 41 times.
And in the taxable bond sector, the Maryland State Community Development Administration 4.103s of 2032 were traded 28 times.
Week's most actively quoted issues
Puerto Rico, Michigan and Illinois names were among the most actively quoted bonds in the week ended April 14, according to Markit.
On the bid side, the Puerto Rico Commonwealth GO 5s of 2041 were quoted by 38 unique dealers. On the ask side, the L’Anse Creuse Public Schools, Mich., taxable 2.478s of 2021 were quoted by 102 unique dealers. And among two-sided quotes, the Illinois taxable 5.1s of 2033 were quoted by 29 unique dealers.
Week’s primary market
In the competitive arena this week, Wells Fargo Securities won California’s $603.89 million of various purpose general obligation refunding bonds with a true interest cost of 2.81%. The deal is rated Aa3 by Moody’s Investors Service and AA-minus by S&P Global Ratings and Fitch Ratings.
The Arcadia Unified School District, Calif., competitively sold $188.9 million of Series 2017 GO refunding bonds. Bank of America Merrill Lynch won the bonds with a TIC of 3.68%. The deal is rated Aa1 by Moody’s and AA by S&P.
Howard County, Md., sold $358.76 million of bonds in three separate sales. The $145.45 million of Series 2017B consolidated public improvement refunding bonds were won by Citi with a TIC of 2.24%. The $133.57 million of Series 2017A consolidated public improvement project bonds were won by BAML with a TIC of 2.95%. The $79.75 million of Series 2017C metropolitan district project and refunding bonds were won by Barclays with a TIC of 3.11%. All three deals are rated triple-A by Moody’s, S&P and Fitch.
The state of Ohio sold $300 million of higher education general obligation bonds which were won by BAML with a TIC of 3.31%. The deal is rated Aa1 by Moody’s and AA-plus by S&P and Fitch.
RBC Capital Markets priced the New York City Transitional Finance Authority’s $839.04 million of tax-exempt future tax secured subordinate bonds.
Also, the TFA competitively sold $300 million of taxable bonds in two sales. The $234.21 million of future tax secured subordinate bonds, Fiscal 2017, Subseries E-2 were won by RBC with a TIC of 2.84%. The $65.79 million of future tax secured subordinate bonds, Fiscal 2017, Subseries E-3 were won by FTN Financial Capital Markets with a TIC of 3.43%.
The TFA deals are rated Aa1 by Moody’s and AAA by S&P and Fitch.
JPMorgan Securities priced Energy Northwest’s $587.79 million of electric revenue refunding tax-exempt and taxable bonds. The deal is rated Aa1 by Moody’s, AA-minus by S&P and AA by Fitch.
JPMorgan also priced the Miami-Dade County Health Facilities Authority, Fla.’s $151.57 million of Series 2017 hospital revenue and revenue refunding bonds for the Nicklaus Children’s Hospital. The deal is rated A-plus by S&P and Fitch.
Piper Jaffray priced the Palomar Community College District, Calif.’s $102.24 million of 2017 GO refunding bonds. The deal is rated Aa1 by Moody’s and AA by S&P.
Bond Buyer visible supply
The Bond Buyer's 30-day visible supply calendar increased $3.99 million to $13.92 billion on Thursday. The total is comprised of $3.85 billion of competitive sales and $10.08 billion of negotiated deals.
Tax-exempt money market fund inflows
Tax-exempt money market funds experienced inflows of $95.3 million, bringing total net assets to $130.34 billion in the week ended April 10, according to The Money Fund Report, a service of iMoneyNet.com.
This followed an inflow of $92.4 million to $130.24 billion in the previous week.
The average, seven-day simple yield for the 232 weekly reporting tax-exempt funds was unchanged at 0.39% from the previous week.
The total net assets of the 861 weekly reporting taxable money funds decreased $3.56 billion to $2.485 trillion in the week ended April 11, after an inflow of $12.97 billion to $2.489 trillion the week before.
The average, seven-day simple yield for the taxable money funds increased to 0.41% from 0.40% in the prior week.
Overall, the combined total net assets of the 1,091 weekly reporting money funds decreased $3.46 billion to $2.615 trillion in the week ended April 11, after inflows of $12.87 billion to $2.619 trillion in the prior week.
