After a busy day Tuesday when billions of dollars of new issuance flooded the market, municipal bond traders are ready and waiting Wednesday for the last big issuance of this short week.
Secondary market
U.S. Treasuries were narrowly mixed on Wednesday. The yield on the two-year Treasury was unchanged from 1.23% on Tuesday, while the 10-year Treasury yield dropped to 2.29% from 2.30%, and the yield on the 30-year Treasury bond decreased to 2.92% from 2.93%.
Top rated municipal bonds were stronger on Tuesday. The yield on the 10-year benchmark muni general obligation fell four basis points to 2.13% from 2.17% on Monday, while the 30-year GO yield was down three basis points to 2.94% from 2.97%, according to the final read of Municipal Market Data's triple-A scale.
On Tuesday, the 10-year muni to Treasury ratio was calculated at 92.6% compared to 91.9% on Monday, while the 30-year muni to Treasury ratio stood at 100.3%, versus 99.3%, according to MMD.
Primary market
The last of the week’s deals scheduled to be $100 million or greater are set to price on Wednesday.
Leading the slate is California’s $635.59 million of various purpose general obligation refunding bonds. The deal is rated Aa3 by Moody’s Investors Service and AA-minus by S&P Global Ratings and Fitch Ratings.
Staying in the competitive arena and in the Golden State, the Arcadia Unified School District, Calif., is set to sell $188.9 million of GO refunding bonds. The deal is rated Aa1 by Moody’s and AA by S&P.
On the negotiated side, Morgan Stanley is scheduled to price the city of Cape Coral, Fla.’s $103.4 million of utility improvement refunding assessment bonds for various areas. The deal is rated A2 by Moody’s and BBB-plus by S&P.
Since 2007, Cape Coral has issued $872 million, with the most issuance occurring back in 2011 when it sold $299 million. The city did not come to market at all in 2008, 2011 through 2014 and 2016. With the sale on Wednesday, it puts the city at about $166 million, good for the second highest yearly total in the same time span.
Siebert Cisneros Shank & Co. is slated to price the Fort Bend Independent School District, Texas' $92 million of unlimited tax refunding and green bonds. The deal is backed by the Permanent School Fund guarantee program, is expected to mature serially from 2018 through 2042 and is rated triple-A by S&P and Fitch, with underlying ratings of AA-plus.
MSRB: Previous session's activity
The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board reported 40,037 trades on Tuesday on volume of $10.03 billion.
Bond Buyer visible supply
The Bond Buyer's 30-day visible supply calendar decreased $2.053 million to $9.94 billion on Wednesday. The total is comprised of $4.60 billion of competitive sales and $5.34 billion of negotiated deals.
