Muni market wants to know how Trump will pay for infrastructure

The municipal bond market will be watching President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address on Tuesday night to see if he offers any details on how he plans to pay for his proposals on infrastructure spending.

“I think for bond guys it comes down to defense spending and infrastructure. What’s the plan, and how much, if any, of a boost to the economy will it bring,” said one market participant.

Some market observers have been skeptical that any multi-billion dollar plan for infrastructure could get bipartisan support with so few specifics on how to fund and finance it.

Primary market
Wells Fargo Securities priced the Hampton Roads, Va., Transportation Accountability Commission's $500 million of Series 2018A senior lien revenue bonds on Tuesday.

The issue was priced as 5s to yield from 2.22% in 2025 to 3.06% in 2038, 3.13% in 2043, 3.21% in 2048, 3.31% in 2052 and as 5 1/4s to yield 3.31% in 2057.

The deal is rated AA by S&P Global Ratings and AA-plus by Fitch Ratings.

Also on tap, Bank of America Merrill Lynch is set to price the state of Hawaii's $775 million of Series 2018 FT general obligation bonds and Series 2018 FU and FV taxable GOs on Tuesday. The deal is rated Aa1 by Moody's Investors Service, AA-plus by S&P and AA by Fitch.

Also on Tuesday, Citigroup is expected to price Ohio’s turnpike revenue bonds for infrastructure projects. The senior liens are rated Aa2 by Moody’s, AA-minus by S&P and AA by Fitch while the junior liens are rated Aa3 by Moody’s and A-plus by S&P and Fitch.

Citi is set to price the Providence St. Joseph Health Obligated Group’s $350 million of Series 2018A taxable corporate CUSIP bonds. The deal is rated Aa3 by Moody’s and AA-minus by S&P and Fitch.

Citi is also expected to price the Washington Health Care Facilities Authority’s $139.7 million of Series 2018B tax-exempt refunding bonds for Providence St. Joseph Health. The deal is rated Aa3 by Moody’s and AA-minus by S&P and Fitch.

Since 2008, the authority has sold about $7.76 billion of bonds, with the most issuance occurring in 2008 when it sold $1.57 billion and the least amount in 2016 when it sold $32 million.

Goldman Sachs is expected to price the Orlando Health Obligated Group’s $480 million of Series 2018 taxable corporate CUSIP hospital revenue bonds.

The deal is rated A2 by Moody’s and A by S&P.

BAML is set to price the Upper Arlington City School District of Franklin County, Ohio’s $221 million of Series 2018A unlimited tax general obligation school facilities construction and improvement bonds. The deal is rated Aa1 by Moody’s and AAA by S&P.

There are no competitive sales of $100 million or above slated for the week.

Bond Buyer 30-day visible supply at $7.13B
The Bond Buyer's 30-day visible supply calendar increased $189.6 million to $7.13 billion on Tuesday. The total is comprised of $1.38 billion of competitive sales and $5.75 billion of negotiated deals.

MSRB: Previous session's activity
The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board reported 41,095 trades on Monday on volume of $10.67 billion.

California, New York and Texas were the three states with the most trades on Tuesday, with the Golden State taking 13.729% of the market, the Empire State taking 9.213% and the Lone Star State taking 8.99%.

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.