The municipal bond market is preparing to see a hefty slate of new issues come its way this week, with about $8.7 billion of new deals set for sale.
Traders will be watching the direction of muni yields, which are hovering near record low levels.
Secondary Market
U.S. Treasuries were weaker on Monday. The yield on the two-year Treasury rose to 0.64% from 0.61% on Friday as the 10-year Treasury yield gained to 1.41% from 1.36% and the yield on the 30-year Treasury bond increased to 2.13% from 2.11%.
Top-shelf municipal bonds finished flat on Friday. The yield on the 10-year benchmark muni general obligation was unchanged from 1.31% on Thursday, while the 30-year muni yield was steady at 1.95%, according to the final read of Municipal Market Data's triple-A scale.
The 10-year muni to Treasury ratio was calculated at 96.0% on Friday compared to 94.2% on Thursday, while the 30-year muni to Treasury ratio stood at 92.5% versus 91.1%, according to MMD.
MSRB: Previous Session's Activity
The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board reported 28,331 trades on Friday on volume of $8.32 billion.
Prior Week's Actively Traded Issues
Revenue bonds comprised 49.75% of new issuance in the week ended July 8, down from 51.89% in the previous week, according to
Some of the most actively traded issues by type were from Washington state and South Carolina.
In the GO bond sector, the Washington 5s of 2023 were traded 29 times. In the revenue bond sector, the S.C. Public Service Authority 2.25s of 2051 were traded 59 times. And in the taxable bond sector, the S.C. PSA 2.388s of 2023 were traded 66 times.
Previous Week's Top Underwriters
The top negotiated and competitive underwriters of last week included Wells Fargo Securities, Morgan Stanley, RBC Capital Markets, Piper Jaffray and Stifel, according to Thomson Reuters data. In the week of July 3-9, Wells Fargo underwrote $511 million, Morgan Stanley $348.9 million, RBC $172.8 million, Piper $154 million and Stifel $130.6 million.
Primary Market
Volume for the week is estimated at $8.68 billion, consisting of $6.41 billion of negotiated deals and $2.27 billion of competitive sales.
The calendar is topped by negotiated and competitive sales from the New York City Transitional Finance Authority totaling over $1 billion.
Siebert Brandford Shank will price the NYC TFA's $800 million of tax-exempt future tax secured subordinate Fiscal 2017A1 bonds on Wednesday after a two-day retail order period beginning on Monday.
The bonds are rated Aa1 by Moody's Investors Service and triple-A by S&P Global Ratings and Fitch Ratings.
The TFA will also competitively sell on Wednesday two separate taxable offerings totaling $250 million, consisting of $186.91 million of Fiscal 2017 Series A Subseries A-2 future tax secured bonds and $63.91 million of Fiscal 2017 Series A Subseries A-3 future tax secured bonds.
JPMorgan Securities is expected to price the Louisville-Jefferson County Metropolitan Government, Ky.'s $538.05 million of Series 2016A health system revenue bonds for Norton Healthcare. The deal is rated A-minus by S&P and A by Fitch.
JPMorgan is also set to price the Massachusetts Port Authority's $223.04 million issue on Tuesday. The offering consists of $50.995 million of Series 2016A revenue refunding bonds not subject to the alternative minimum tax and $172.04 million of Series 2016B revenue bonds subject to the AMT. The deal is rated Aa2 by Moody's and AA by S&P and Fitch.
In the competitive arena on Tuesday, Hillsborough County, Fla., will sell $213.13 million of Series 2016 utility revenue bonds. The deal, which was postponed from June 29, is rated triple-A by Moody's, AA-plus by S&P and triple-A by Fitch.
The county last competitively sold comparable bonds on Oct. 10, 2010, when Bank of America Merrill Lynch won $18.04 million of Series 2010A utility revenue bonds with a true interest cost of 2.09%.
Bond Buyer Visible Supply
The Bond Buyer's 30-day visible supply calendar increased $663.7 million to $12.43 billion on Monday. The total is comprised of $4.38 billion of competitive sales and $8.05 billion of negotiated deals.
