The municipal bond market was eagerly awaiting the last of the week’s hefty new issuance, led off by deals from out west.
Secondary Market
Treasuries were narrowly mixed on Thursday. The yield on the two-year Treasury rose to 0.93% from 0.90% on Wednesday, while the 10-year Treasury yield was unchanged from 1.89% and the 30-year Treasury bond yield was flat from 2.67%.
The 10-year muni to Treasury ratio was calculated on Wednesday at 99.4% compared to 102.6% on Tuesday, while the 30-year muni to Treasury ratio stood at 106.5% versus 108.5%, according to MMD.
Top shelf municipal bonds finished flat on Wednesday. The yield on the 10-year benchmark muni general obligation was steady from 1.88% on Tuesday, while the 30-year muni yield was unchanged from 2.86%, according to the final read of Municipal Market Data's triple-A scale.
MSRB Previous Session's Activity
The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board reported 39,320 trades on Wednesday on volume of $10.64 billion.
Primary Market
In the negotiated sector, the Las Vegas Valley Water District, Nev., is coming to market with two sales totaling $716 million on Thursday.
Citigroup is set to price the $608 million of general obligation improvement and refunding bonds. The deal is rated Aa1 by Moody’s Investors Service and AA by Standard & Poor’s.
Morgan Stanley is expected to price $108.39 million of limited tax GOs additionally secured by pledged revenues. This deal is rated Aa1 by Moody’s and AA-plus by S&P.
Since 2006, the Las Vegas Valley Water District has issued bonds an average of two times a year, selling about $3.7 billion, with the largest issuances in 2009 and 2011 when it offered $520 million and $534 million, respectively. The LVVWD did not issue any bonds in 2007 or 2013.
Morgan Stanley is also expected to price the Louisiana Public Facilities Authority’s $198.68 million of refunding revenue bonds for the Energy Louisiana Project. The deal is rated A2 by Moody’s and A-minus by S&P.
Mesirow Financial is set to price Sweetwater Union High School, Calif.’s $264.5 million of GOs. The deal is rated A1 by Moody’s A-plus by S&P and AAA by Fitch Ratings.
Bond Buyer Visible Supply
The Bond Buyer's 30-day visible supply calendar fell $2.52 billion to $7.56 billion on Thursday. The total is comprised of $2.46 billion of competitive sales and $5.10 billion of negotiated deals.
Tax-Exempt Money Market Funds Post Inflows
Tax-exempt money market funds experienced inflows of $831.8 million, bringing total net assets to $239.81 billion in the week ended March 7, according to The Money Fund Report, a service of iMoneyNet.com. This followed an outflow of $4.49 billion to $238.97 billion in the previous week.
The average, seven-day simple yield for the 354 weekly reporting tax-exempt funds remained at 0.01% for the 149th straight week.
The total net assets of the 940 weekly reporting taxable money funds increased $24.99 billion to $2.590 trillion in the week ended March 8, after an inflow of $9.30 billion to $2.565 trillion in the prior week.
The average, seven-day simple yield for the taxable money funds remained at 0.10% for the fifth week in a row.
Overall, the combined total net assets of the 1,294 weekly reporting money funds increased $25.82 billion to $2.830 trillion in the period ended March 8, which followed an inflow of $4.81 billion to $2.804 trillion.
