Muni Market Set for Last of Week's Big Deals

bb011317mun2.jpg
bb011317mun2.jpg

Municipal bond traders are set for the last of this week's large sales to price on Thursday after two days of healthy new issuance.

Secondary Market

U.S. Treasuries were stronger on Thursday. The yield on the two-year Treasury dropped to 1.16% from 1.18% on Wednesday, while the 10-year Treasury yield decreased to 2.32% from 2.37%, and the yield on the 30-year Treasury bond declined to 2.91% from 2.96%.

Top quality municipal bonds finished stronger on Wednesday. The 10-year benchmark muni general obligation yield fell three basis points to 2.19% from 2.22% on Tuesday, while the yield on the 30-year GO dropped five basis points to 2.92% from 2.97%, according to the final read of Municipal Market Data's triple-A scale.

On Wednesday, the 10-year muni to Treasury ratio was calculated at 92.5% compared to 93.3% on Tuesday, while the 30-year muni to Treasury ratio stood at 98.8%, versus 100.0%, according to MMD.

MSRB: Previous Session's Activity

The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board reported 43,691 trades on Wednesday on volume of $14.90 billion.

Primary Market

Goldman Sachs is set to price the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority's $665 million of general revenue and refunding bonds on Thursday.

The New York deal is rated Aa3 by Moody's Investors Service, AA-minus by Fitch Ratings and AA by Kroll Bond Rating Agency.

Since 2007, the New York TBTA has issued about $9.5 billion of debt, with the largest issuance occurring in 2008 when it sold roughly $2.19 billion of debt. The authority saw its lowest issuance total in the past 10 years in 2007 when it issued $223 million. With the sale on Thursday, the authority has already issued more than it did since 2013.

RBC Capital Markets is expected to price Austin, Texas' $346.795 million of Series 2017 airport system revenue bonds for the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport. The deal is rated A1 by Moody's and A by S&P Global Ratings.

RBC is also expected to price the El Paso County School District No. 10, Colo.'s $160 million of Series 2017 general obligation bonds. The deal, which is backed by the Colorado state intercept program, is rated Aa2 by Moody's.

In the competitive arena, Ohio is selling $350 million of bonds in two separate deals.

The offerings consist of $300 million of Series 2017A common schools general obligation bonds and $50 million of Series 2017A conservation projects GOs. The deals are rated Aa1 by Moody's and AA-plus by S&P and Fitch.

Bond Buyer Visible Supply

The Bond Buyer's 30-day visible supply calendar decreased $1.28 billion to $14.55 billion on Thursday. The total is comprised of $3.33 billion of competitive sales and $11.23 billion of negotiated deals.

Tax-Exempt Money Market Fund Outflows

Tax-exempt money market funds experienced inflows of $1.37 billion, bringing total net assets to $131.64 billion in the week ended Jan. 9, according to The Money Fund Report, a service of iMoneyNet.com. This followed an outflow of $851.3 million to $130.27 billion in the previous week.

The average, seven-day simple yield for the 237 weekly reporting tax-exempt funds decreased to 0.25% from 0.27% in the previous week.

The total net assets of the 863 weekly reporting taxable money funds decreased $14.38 billion to $2.532 trillion in the week ended Jan. 10, after an outflow of $20.11 billion to $2.547 trillion the week before.

The average, seven-day simple yield for the taxable money funds increased to 0.25% from 0.24% in the previous week.

Overall, the combined total net assets of the 1,100 weekly reporting money funds fell $13.01 billion to $2.664 trillion in the week ended Jan. 10 after inflows of $20.96 billion to $2.677 trillion in the prior week.

For reprint and licensing requests for this article, click here.
MORE FROM BOND BUYER