The first of the week's deals are starting to come to market on Monday, as a competitive deal from a school district in Kansas got the action started ahead of some of the larger negotiated deals, which will be pricing on Wednesday.
Prices of top-rated munis were unchanged at mid-day, traders said, with yields remaining steady from where they were on Friday.
Secondary Market
The yield on the 10-year benchmark muni general obligation on Monday was steady from 2.23% on Friday, while the yield on the 30-year GO did not change from 3.20%, according to a read of Municipal Market Data's triple-A scale.
Treasury prices were mostly stronger on Monday, with the yield on the two-year Treasury note flat from 0.71% on Friday, while the 10-year yield was down to 2.17% from 2.18% and the 30-year yield decreased to 2.94% from 2.95%.
The 10-year muni to Treasury ratio was calculated on Friday at 102.2% versus 101.1% on Thursday, while the 30-year muni to Treasury ratio stood at 108.8% compared to 107.0%, according to MMD.
Primary Market
Johnson County Unified School District No. 229, Kan., competitively sold two separate issues totaling roughly $162.4 million of general obligation and refunding bonds, Series' 2015 A and B on Monday. Information on the deals was not immediately available. The bonds were rated triple-A by Moody's Investors Service and AA-plus by Standard & Poor's.
Muni volume is estimated at $4.2 billion this week, according to Ipreo.
The state of Ohio will be competitively selling three issues totaling roughly $250.48 million of conservation projects general obligation and infrastructure improvement GOs and refunding bonds on Tuesday. The deal is rated triple-A by Moody's and AA-plus by S&P and Fitch Ratings.
All of the larger new negotiated deals will be priced on Wednesday this week and not by a coincidence either.
The Federal Open Market Committee will be having their Sept. meeting 16-17, where everyone is waiting on the announcement of interest rates.
When asked about all of the pricings taking place on Wednesday, Dan Heckman, senior fixed income strategist at U.S. Bank Wealth Management said, "I can understand underwriters being careful of bringing deals and then having them get hung up if the Fed did do something that is disruptive to the bond market."
The Texas Transportation Commission plans the biggest deal on the calendar, a sale of $750 million of Series 2015A general obligation mobility fund refunding bonds. The advance refunding, expected to be priced by JPMorgan Securities on Wednesday, is rated triple-A by Moody's Investors Service, Standard & Poor's and Fitch Ratings.
Among some other deals that will be pricing on Wednesday, Barclays Capital is slated to price the Illinois Finance Authority's $368 million of Series 2015A revenue bonds for OSF Healthcare.
Citi will be busy pricing three deals: the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power's $271 million of power system revenue bonds; Philadelphia's $225 million of GOs; and the Illinois' Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority's $222 million of bonds for the McCormick Place expansion project.
Prior Week's Actively Traded Issues by Sector
Revenue bonds comprised 57.78% of new issuance in the week ended Sept. 11, up from 56.92% in the previous week, according to Markit. General obligation bonds comprised 33.27% of total issuance, up from 35.08%, while taxable bonds made up 8.95%, up from 8.00%.
Puerto Rico and Connecticut were some of the most actively quoted names in the week.
On the bid side, the Puerto Rico commonwealth GO 8s of 2035 were quoted by 12 unique dealers. On the ask side, the Connecticut Health and Educational Facilities Authority revenue 4 1/8s of 2041 were quoted by 19 dealers. And among two-sided quotes, the Puerto Rico commonwealth GO 8s of 2035 were quoted by 13 dealers, Markit said.
MSRB Previous Activity
The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board reported 33,571 trades on Friday on volume of $7.635 billion.
Bond Buyer Visible Supply
The Bond Buyer's 30-day visible supply calendar rose $72.2 million to $8.77 billion on Friday. The total is comprised of $3.06 billion competitive sales and $5.71 billion of negotiated deals.
