Muni traders ready for a manic Monday

Although the total weekly volume is expected to be low, municipal bond traders will start the week running, with a few deals expected to price on Monday.

Secondary market
Treasuries were weaker on Monday morning. The yield on the two-year Treasury gained to 1.35% from 1.34% on Friday, the 10-year Treasury yield rose to 2.24% from 2.23% and the yield on the 30-year Treasury bond increased to 2.82% from 2.80%.

Top shelf municipal bonds finished stronger on Friday. The yield on the 10-year benchmark muni general obligation fell two basis points to 1.90% from 1.92% on Thursday, while the 30-year GO yield dropped two basis points to 2.69% from 2.71%, according to the final read of Municipal Market Data's triple-A scale.

Yields were about 10 basis points lower last week. On Friday, July 14, the 10-year muni yield stood at 2.00% while the 30-year yield was at 2.79%

The 10-year muni to Treasury ratio was calculated at 85.1% on Friday, compared with 84.8% on Thursday, while the 30-year muni to Treasury ratio stood at 96.0% versus 95.6%, according to MMD.

MSRB: Previous session's activity
The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board reported 29,522 trades on Friday on volume of $8.379 billion.

Prior week's actively traded issues
Revenue bonds comprised 54.85% of new issuance in the week ended July 21, up from 53.96% in the previous week, according to Markit. General obligation bonds comprised 38.65% of total issuance, down from 39.65%, while taxable bonds made up 6.50%, up from 6.39%.

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Some of the most actively traded bonds by type were from Illinois and New York issuers.

In the GO bond sector, the Chicago Board of Education 7s of 2046 were traded 73 times. In the revenue bond sector, the New York City TFA 4s of 2036 were traded 106 times. And in the taxable bond sector, the Illinois 5.1s of 2033 were traded 56 times.

Primary market
Ipreo estimates volume will sink to $4.24 billion, from the revised total of $7.46 billion sold in the past week, according to updated figures from Thomson Reuters. The calendar for the week ahead is composed of $3.62 billion of negotiated deals and $621 million of competitive sales.

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The market will see an unusual amount of activity for a Monday – including two retail order periods and two institutional pricings.

On Monday, Bank of America Merrill Lynch is scheduled to price New York City’s $800 million of general obligation bonds for retail investors in the first day of a two-day retail order period, preceding institutional pricing on Wednesday. The deal is rated Aa2 by Moody’s Investors Service and AA by S&P Global Ratings and Fitch Ratings.

Citi is expected to price the Port of Seattle’s $266 million of Series 2017B taxable intermediate lien revenue and refunding bonds, a day before pricing the other two pieces of the whole series: $17.33 million of Series 2017A bonds and $324.8 million of Series 2017C alternative-minimum tax bonds. The deal is rated A1 by Moody’s, A-plus by S&P and AA-minus by Fitch.

Morgan Stanley is slated to price the Connecticut Housing Finance Authority’s $125 million of housing mortgage finance program bonds for retail investors ahead of institutional pricing on Tuesday. The deal is rated triple-A by Moody’s and S&P.

JPMorgan is scheduled to price Hays County, Tx.’s $100.02 million of limited tax bonds for institutional investors. The deal is rated AA by S&P and Fitch.

Bond Buyer reports 30-day visible supply
The Bond Buyer's 30-day visible supply calendar increased $524.4 million to $6.57 billion on Monday. The total is comprised of $1.95 billion of competitive sales and $4.62 billion of negotiated deals.

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Primary bond market Secondary bond market City of New York, NY
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