Muni market quiet ahead of next week’s new issue calendar

The municipal bond market is expected to remain quiet on Friday, ahead of next week’s new issue slate.

Secondary market
Treasuries were mixed on Friday. The yield on the two-year Treasury was flat from 1.36% on Thursday, the 10-year Treasury yield gained to 2.32% from 2.31% and the yield on the 30-year Treasury bond decreased to 2.92% from 2.93%.

Top-rated municipal bonds ended weaker on Thursday. The yield on the 10-year benchmark muni general obligation increased one basis point to 1.95% from 1.94% on Wednesday, while the 30-year GO yield rose one basis point to 2.74% from 2.73%, according to the final read of Municipal Market Data's triple-A scale.

On Thursday, the 10-year muni to Treasury ratio was calculated at 84.4%, compared with 84.9% on Wednesday, while the 30-year muni to Treasury ratio stood at 93.6% versus 94.3%, according to MMD.

MSRB: Previous session's activity
The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board reported 38,309 trades on Friday on volume of $11.56 billion.

Week's actively traded issues
Some of the most actively traded bonds by type in the week ended July 28 were from New York and Washington issuers, according to Markit.

In the GO bond sector, the New York City 4s of 2018 were traded 46 times. In the revenue bond sector, the Washington state Economic Development Finance Authority 7.5s of 2032 were traded 51 times. And in the taxable bond sector, the Port of Seattle 3.755s of 2036 were traded 49 times.

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Week's actively quoted issues
Illinois and Virginia names were among the most actively quoted bonds in the week ended July 28, according to Markit.

On the bid side, the Illinois taxable 5.1s of 2033 were quoted by 64 unique dealers. On the ask side, the Virginia College Building Authority revenue 3s of 2035 were quoted by 397 unique dealers. And among two-sided quotes, the Illinois taxable 5.1s of 2033 were quoted by 23 unique dealers.

Week’s primary market
Bank of America Merrill Lynch priced New York City’s $898.97 million of Fiscal 2018 Series A general obligation bonds. The deal was increased from the originally planned $800 million.

The deal is rated Aa2 by Moody’s Investors Service and AA by S&P Global Ratings and Fitch Ratings. All three rating agencies assign a stable outlook to the bonds.

NYC also competitively sold $60 million of Fiscal 2002 Series A Subseries A-10 taxable GOs as a remarketing. Morgan Stanley won the bonds with a true interest cost of 1.7981%

Citigroup priced the Port of Seattle’s $688.51 million deal consisting of tax-exempt intermediate lien revenue and revenue refunding bonds and taxable intermediate lien revenue refunding bonds. The deal is rated A1 by Moody’s, A-plus by S&P and AA-minus by Fitch.

Barclays Capital priced Philadelphia’s $175.05 million of water and wastewater bonds. The deal is rated A1 by Moody’s and A-plus by S&P and Fitch.

JPMorgan Securities priced the Belton Independent School District, Texas' $117.44 million of Series 2017 unlimited tax school building bonds. The deal, which is backed by the Permanent School Fund guarantee program, is rated triple-A by S&P and Fitch.

Morgan Stanley priced the Connecticut Housing Finance Authority’s $125 million of housing mortgage finance program bonds. The deal is rated triple-A by Moody’s and S&P.
JPMorgan priced Hays County, Texas’ $96.395 million of limited tax bonds. The deal is rated AA by S&P and Fitch.

In the competitive arena, the Florida Department of Management and Services competitively sold $187.83 million of Series 2017A facilities pool revenue refunding bonds. Raymond James & Associates won the bonds with a true interest cost of 2.3874%. The deal is rated Aa2 by Moody’s and AA-plus by S&P and Fitch.

Alexandria, Va., competitively sold $99.36 million of unlimited tax general obligation capital improvement bonds in two separate sales. BAML won the $94.93 million of Series 2017A tax-exempt GOs with a TIC of 2.50%. Wells Fargo Securities won the $4.43 million of Series 2017B taxable GOs with a TIC of 3.08%. Both deals are rated triple-A by Moody's and S&P.

Bond Buyer reports 30-day visible supply
The Bond Buyer's 30-day visible supply calendar increased $3.16 billion to $11.68 billion on Friday. The total is comprised of $5.55 billion of competitive sales and $6.13 billion of negotiated deals.

Lipper: Muni bond funds see inflows
Investors in municipal bond funds again saw investors put cash into the funds in the latest week, according to Lipper data.

The weekly reporters saw $322.992 million of inflows in the week of July 26, after inflows of $298.554 million in the previous week.

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The four-week moving average turned negative at $2.329 million, after being in the green at $41.012 million in the previous week. A moving average is an analytical tool used to smooth out price changes by filtering out fluctuations.

Long-term muni bond funds had inflows of $229.732 million in the latest week after inflows of $183.175 million in the previous week. Intermediate-term funds had inflows of $70.336 million after inflows of $84.015 million in the prior week.

National funds had inflows of $431.650 million after inflows of $342.243 million in the previous week. High-yield muni funds reported inflows of $188.672 million in the latest reporting week, after inflows of $39.178 million the previous week.

Exchange traded funds saw inflows of $123.905 million, after inflows of $7.650 million in the previous week.

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Primary bond market Secondary bond market Municipal bond funds City of New York, NY City of Philadelphia, PA
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