Prices of top-shelf municipal bonds were unchanged at mid-session, traders said, as traders cast their gaze ahead to next week's $6.2 billion new issue calendar.
Secondary Market
The yield on the 10-year benchmark muni general obligation was steady from 2.04% on Thursday, while the yield on the 30-year GO was unchanged from 3.07%, according to a read of Municipal Market Data's triple-A scale.
On Friday, Oct. 23, the yield on the 10-year muni stood at 2.04% while the 30-year muni was at 3.07% while on Friday, Oct. 2, the 10-year was yielding 1.98% and the 30-year was yielding 3.02%. In contrast, on Friday, Jan. 2, the 10-year was at 2.01% and the 30-year was at 2.83%.
Treasury prices were narrowly mixed on Friday, with the yield on the two-year Treasury rising to 0.73% from 0.72% on Thursday, while the 10-year yield slipped to 2.16% from 2.17% and the 30-year yield decreased to 2.95% from 2.96%.
The 10-year muni to Treasury ratio was calculated on Thursday at 93.8% versus 96.1% on Wednesday, while the 30-year muni to Treasury ratio stood at 103.5% compared to 106.0%, according to MMD.
The Week's Most Actively Quoted Issues
Puerto Rico and Toledo were some of the most actively quoted names in the week ended Oct. 30, according to data released by Markit.
On the bid side, the Puerto Rico commonwealth GO 8s of 2035 were quoted by 14 unique dealers. On the ask side, the University of Toledo, Ohio 5s of 2025 were quoted by 23 dealers. And among two-sided quotes, Puerto Rico commonwealth GO 8s of 2035 were quoted by 13 dealers, Markit said.
The Week's Most Actively Traded Issues
Some of the most actively traded issues in the week ended Oct. 30 were in New Jersey, Puerto Rico and California, according to Markit.
In the revenue bond sector, the New Jersey Turnpike Authority 5s of 2045 were traded 119 times. In the GO bond sector, the Puerto Rico commonwealth 8s of 2035 were traded 38 times. And in the taxable bond sector, the California 7.55s of 2039 were traded 27 times, Markit said.
The Week's Primary Market
Traders saw a lot of new deals come to market this week, divided into pre- and post-Federal Reserve meeting issuance.
On Tuesday, Jefferies priced the state of Texas' $234.97 million of Series 2015D GOs and water financial assistance bonds. The issue was rated triple-A by Moody's Investors Service, Standard & Poor's and Fitch Ratings.
Morgan Stanley priced the state of Tennessee's $385.59 million of Series 2015A general obligation bonds and Series 2015B refunding bonds. The issue was rated triple-A by Moody's and Fitch and AA-plus by S&P.
The state of Florida Board of Education competitively sold $233.14 million of its full faith and credit Series 2015F public education capital outlay refunding bonds.
Citigroup won the issue with a dollar bid of 111.63 and a true interest cost of 2.97%. The issue was rated Aa1 by Moody's and triple-A by S&P and Fitch.
On Wednesday, Federal Reserve policymakers decided to hold interest rates steady, while hinting they may make a move to raise in December.
On Thursday, Raymond James priced Broward County, Fla.'s $482.2 million of airport system revenue and revenue refunding bonds, AMT and non-AMT, for the Fort Lauderdale International Airport. The bonds were rated A1 by Moody's and A-plus by S&P.
"We were oversubscribed among many series' and the pricing beat our expectations," said Robert Miracle, Broward County's Finance and Administrative Services Department CFO.
Citigroup and Guggenheim Securities remarketed Posey County, Ind.'s $1.26 billion of Series 2013A revenue refunding bonds for the Midwest Fertilizer Co. The deal has been remarketed several times, the last being on March 27. The issue was rated A1-plus by S&P.
Siebert Brandford Shank priced Harris County, Texas' $163.33 million of Series 2015B toll road senior lien revenue refunding bonds. The bonds were rated Aa2 by Moody's and AA by Fitch.
Bank of America Merrill Lynch priced the California Pollution Control Financing Authority's $126 million of solid waste disposal AMT refunding revenue bonds for Waste Management Inc. The issue was rated A-minus by S&P.
BAML also priced Alameda County's Washington Township Health Care District, Calif.'s $145.5 million of 2012 election Series 2015B general obligation bonds. The bonds were rated Aa3 by Moody's.
Wells Fargo Securities priced the Virginia Housing Development Authority's $140.93 million of Series 2015A taxable mortgage pass-through bonds. The issue was rated triple-A by Moody's, S&P and Fitch.
Total volume for next week is estimated by Ipreo at $6.24 billion. This is up from a revised total of $3.69 billion this week, according to Thomson Reuters.
Next week's total is made up of $4.81 billion of negotiated deals and $1.43 billion of competitive sales.
Muni Bond Funds See Inflows for 4th Straight Week
Municipal bond funds reported inflows for the fourth week in a row, according to Lipper data released on Thursday.
Weekly reporting funds experienced $349.038 million of inflows in the week ended Oct. 28, after inflows of $240.718 million in the previous week, Lipper said.
The latest inflow brings to 23 out of 44 weeks this year that the funds have seen cash flowing in. Inflows for the year to date remain in the green, totaling about $3 billion.
The four-week moving average remained positive at $456.144 million after being in the green at $305.770 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 also experienced inflows, gaining $423.093 million in the latest week, on top of inflows of $386.074 million in the previous week. Intermediate-term funds had inflows of $107.447 million after outflows of $78.649 million in the prior week.
National funds saw inflows of $356.881 million after inflows of 244.369 million in the prior week. High-yield muni funds reported inflows of $264.632 million in the latest reporting week, after an inflow of $280.664 million the previous week.
Exchange traded funds saw inflows of $201.311 million, after inflows of $92.863 million in the previous week.
MSRB Previous Session's Activity
The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board reported 34,045 trades on Thursday on volume of $7.28 billion.
Bond Buyer Visible Supply
The Bond Buyer's 30-day visible supply calendar rose $894.4 million to $9.32 billion on Friday. The total is comprised of $3.18 billion competitive sales and $6.14 billion of negotiated deals.
