Buyers waiting on Chicago Sales Tax deal

Municipal bond buyers are waiting to see details on the high-rated, but high-yielding sales tax securitization coming from Chicago on Wednesday.

Secondary market
The MBIS municipal non-callable 5% GO benchmark scale is mixed in midday trading.

The 10-year muni benchmark yield dropped to 2.320% on Wednesday from the final read of 2.369% on Tuesday, according to Municipal Bond Information Services. The MBIS 30-year benchmark muni yield gained to 2.838% from 2.829%.

The MBIS benchmark index is updated hourly on the Bond Buyer Data Workstation.

Top-rated municipal bonds are little changed at mid-session. The yield on the 10-year benchmark muni general obligation was steady from 2.10% on Tuesday, while the 30-year GO yield was flat from 2.69%, according to a read of MMD’s triple-A scale.

U.S. Treasuries are mixed at midday. The yield on the two-year Treasury rose to 2.04% on Wednesday from 2.01% on Tuesday, the 10-year Treasury yield gained to 2.57% from 2.55% and the yield on the 30-year Treasury decreased to 2.82% from 2.84%.

On Tuesday, the 10-year muni-to-Treasury ratio was calculated at 82.6% compared with 83.2% on Friday, while the 30-year muni-to-Treasury ratio stood at 94.9% versus 95.0%, according to MMD.

MSRB: Previous session's activity
The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board reported 41,213 trades on Tuesday on volume of $9.74 billion.

Primary market
Goldman Sachs is set to price the Sales Tax Securitization Corp.’s $898.07 million of Series 2018A sales tax securitization bonds.

The Chicago deal is rated AA by S&P Global Ratings, and AAA by Fitch Ratings and Kroll Bond Rating Agency.

JPMorgan Securities priced the Orlando Utilities Commission, Fla.’s $150.18 million of Series 2018A utility system revenue bonds.

The issue was priced as 5s to yield from 1.73% in 2023 to 2.78% in 2038. The deal is rated Aa2 by Moody’s and AA by S&P and Fitch.

Loop Capital Markets is expected to price the Pasadena Independent School District, Texas’ Series 2018 unlimited tax school building bonds. The deal is backed by PSF and rated triple-A by Moody’s and S&P.

In the competitive arena on Wednesday, the University of Kentucky sold $210.56 million of Series 2018A general receipt bonds.

Wells Fargo Securities won the bonds with a true interest cost of 3.31%.

The issue was priced to yield from 2.07% with a 5% coupon in 2025 to 3.11% with a 4% coupon in 2039. A 2041 maturity was priced as 3 1/4s to yield approximately 3.436%, a 2042 maturity was priced as 3 3/8s to yield approximately 3.497% and a 2047 maturity was priced as 3 1/2s to yield approximately 3.569%.

The deal is rated Aa2 by Moody’s and AA by S&P.

Since 2009 the university has sold about $1.17 billion of bonds, with the most issuance occurring in 2014 when it sold $327 million. UK did not come to market in 2011 and 2013.

BB-011818-MUN

In the short-term competitive arena, the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority sold $500 million of Series 2018A transportation revenue bond anticipation notes, due Aug. 15, 2019, to five groups.

Citigroup took $200 million of the notes with a 4% coupon at a price of $103.684, a yield of 1.60%.

Four other groups won parts of the deal, including Goldman Sachs, Jefferies, JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley. Further pricing information was not immediately available.

The BANs are rated MIG1 by Moody’s, SP1-plus by S&P, F1-plus by Fitch and K1-plus by Kroll.

Bond Buyer 30-day visible supply at $7.72B
The Bond Buyer's 30-day visible supply calendar increased $820.5 million to $7.72 billion on Wednesday. The total is comprised of $3.01 billion of competitive sales and $4.71 billion of negotiated deals.

Data appearing in this article from Municipal Bond Information Services, including the MBIS municipal bond index, is available on The Bond Buyer Data Workstation. Click here for a brief tour of the Workstation, or contact Vanessa Kim at 212-803-8474 for more information.h

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Primary bond market Secondary bond market Chicago Sales Tax Securitization Corp Metropolitan Transportation Authority
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