The New Jersey Turnpike Authority was on tap to sell $750 million of municipal bonds in the primary on Thursday, one of the last big deals coming to market this week.
Primary Market
Citigroup is set to price the NJTA’s $750 million of revenue bonds. The issue is expected to be structured as serials from 2031 to 2034 with a 2045 term bond.
The deal is rated A3 by Moody’s Investors Service, A-plus by Standard & Poor’s and A by Fitch Ratings.
Since 1995, the NJTA has issued over $10 billion of debt. The authority sold the most bonds in 2009 and 2013, when they issued $2.5 billion and $2.1 billion, respectively. The NJTA did not sell any debt from 2006 through 2009 or in 2011.
Morgan Stanley is expected to price the North Carolina Capital Facilities Finance Agency’s $370 million of revenue bonds for Duke University.
The deal is rated Aa1 by Moody’s and AA-plus by S&P.
Morgan Stanley is also expected to price Duke University’s Series 2015A taxable corporate CUSIP bonds.
Secondary Market
Treasury prices were lower on Thursday, with the yield on the two-year Treasury rising to 0.63% from 0.62% on Wednesday, while the 10-year yield rose to 2.05% from 2.02% and the 30-year yield increased to 2.88% from 2.87%.
On Wednesday, municipal bond prices finished stronger. The yield on the 10-year benchmark muni general obligation was one basis point weaker at 2.02% from 2.03% on Tuesday, while the yield on the 30-year GO was two basis points weaker at 3.06% from 3.08%, according to the final read of Municipal Market Data's triple-A scale.
The 10-year muni to Treasury ratio was calculated on Wednesday at 99.6% versus 96.6% on Tuesday, while the 30-year muni to Treasury ratio stood at 106.7% compared to 104.7%, according to MMD.
Tax-Exempt Money Market Funds Post Outflows
Tax-exempt money market funds experienced outflows of $1.04 billion, bringing total net assets to $245.84 billion in the period ended Oct. 19, according to The Money Fund Report, a service of iMoneyNet.com. This followed an outflow of $64.8 million to $246.88 billion in the previous week.
The average, seven-day simple yield for the 377 weekly reporting tax-exempt funds remained at 0.01% for the 129th straight week.
The total net assets of the 950 weekly reporting taxable money funds fell $1.07 billion to $2.477 trillion in the period ended Oct. 20, after an inflow of $12.52 billion to $2.479 trillion the previous week.
The average, seven-day simple yield for the taxable money funds remained at 0.02% for the 40th week in a row.
Overall, the combined total net assets of the 1,327 weekly reporting money funds decreased $2.11 billion to $2.723 trillion in the period ended Oct.20, which followed an inflow of $12.46 billion to $2.725 trillion the week before.
MSRB Previous Session's Activity
The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board reported 38,266 trades on Wednesday on volume of $10.28 billion.
Bond Buyer Visible Supply
The Bond Buyer's 30-day visible supply calendar fell $1.48 billion to $8.22 billion on Thursday. The total is comprised of $1.80 billion competitive sales and $6.43 billion of negotiated deals.
