Muni market braces for big new wave of issuance to sweep in

Municipal bond traders are getting ready to see lots of new deals hit the market on Tuesday, with several large competitive sales coming from issuers in Georgia and Massachusetts.

Secondary market
Treasuries were mixed on Tuesday. The yield on the two-year Treasury was unchanged from 1.36% on Monday, the 10-year Treasury yield gained to 2.18% from 2.17% and the yield on the 30-year Treasury bond decreased to 2.76% from 2.78%.

Municipal bonds finished unchanged on Monday. The yield on the 10-year benchmark muni general obligation was steady from 1.86% on Friday, while the 30-year GO yield was flat from 2.70%, according to the final read of Municipal Market Data's triple-A scale.

On Monday, the 10-year muni to Treasury ratio was calculated at 85.0%, compared with 86.3% on Friday, while the 30-year muni to Treasury ratio stood at 96.8% versus 97.1%, according to MMD.

MSRB: Previous session's activity
The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board reported 37,322 trades on Monday on volume of $7.70 billion.

Primary market
Loop Capital Markets is set to hold a second day of retail orders for the New York City Transitional Finance Authority’s $850 million of tax-exempt Fiscal 2017 Series F Subseries F-1 future tax secured subordinate bonds.

A two-day retail order period was scheduled for the bonds, which will be priced for institutions on Wednesday. The TFA will also competitively sell $250 million of taxable bonds in two separate offerings on Wednesday.

The tax-exempts were priced for retail to yield from 1% with a 3% coupon in 2019 to approximately 3.317% with a 3.25% coupon in 2038; a 2043 maturity was priced as 5s to yield 2.96% and a 2044 maturity was priced as 4s to yield 3.27%. No retail orders were taken in the 2032-2033, 2039 or 2042 maturities.

The issue is rated Aa1 by Moody’s Investors Service and AAA by S&P Global Ratings and Fitch Ratings.

Also on Tuesday, the state of Georgia sells $1.4 billion of general obligation bonds in four separate competitive offerings.

The deals consist of $430.53 million of Series 2017A Tranche 2 GOs, $358.11 million of Series 2017A Tranche 1 GOs, $352.45 million of Series 2017C refunding GOs and $273.45 million of Series 2017B taxable GOs.

All four deals are rated triple-A by Moody’s, S&P and Fitch.

Since 2007 the Peach State has issued roughly $14.46 billion of securities, with the highest yearly total in 2009, when the state issued $2.51 billion of bonds. The lowest year of issuance took place in 2008, when it sold $522 million.

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Additionally, the state of Massachusetts is competitively selling almost $785 million of GOs in three separate offerings.

The sales consist of $400 million of consolidated loan of 2017 Series D GOs, $284.85 million of Series 2017D GO refunding bonds and $100 million of consolidated loan of 2017 Series C GOs.

The deals are rated Aa1 by Moody’s, AA by S&P and AA-plus by Fitch.

In the negotiated sector on Tuesday, Loop is set to price the city of Chicago’s $825 million of general airport senior lien revenue and revenue refunding bonds for the Chicago O’Hare International Airport.

The deal is rated A by S&P and Fitch.

Citigroup is expected to sell the Alabama Federal Aid Highway Finance Authority’s $551 million of Series 2017A special obligation revenue bonds and Series 2017B special obligation revenue refunding bonds on Tuesday.

The deal is rated Aa1 by Moody’s and AAA by S&P.

Bond Buyer reports 30-day visible supply
The Bond Buyer's 30-day visible supply calendar decreased $599.2 million to $15.41 billion on Tuesday. The total is comprised of $5.48 billion of competitive sales and $9.93 billion of negotiated deals.

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Primary bond market Secondary bond market New York City Transitional Finance Authority City of Chicago, IL State of Georgia Commonwealth of Massachusetts
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