The municipal bond market is seeing a second wave of new issue supply hit the screens on Tuesday, led by deals from California and West Virginia issuers.
Primary market
On Tuesday, Bank of America Merrill Lynch priced the Regents of the University of California’s $962.36 million of Series 2018AZ general revenue bonds after holding a one-day retail order period.
BAML is also set to price the $739 million of Series 20180 limited project revenue bonds on Tuesday.
On Wednesday, BAML is expected to price the Cal Regents’ $283 million of Series 2018BA taxable general revenue bonds and $95 million of Series 2018P taxable limited project revenue bonds.
The Series AZ bonds and Series BA taxables are rated Aa2 by Moody’s Investors Service and AA by S&P Global Ratings and Fitch Ratings while the Series 0 bonds and Series P taxables are rated Aa3 by Moody’s and AA-minus by S&P and Fitch.
Since 2008 the Regents have sold about $24.74 billion of securities, with the most issuance occurring in 2013 when it sold $4.70 billion and the least in 2008 when it sold $572 million.
On Tuesday, BAML repriced West Virginia’s $254 million of Series 2018A general obligation state road bonds.
On Wednesday, the state will competitively sell $488.21 million of Series 2018B GO state road bonds.
The deals are rated Aa2 by Moody’s, AA-minus by S&P and AA by Fitch.
BAML also priced the Phoenix Civic Improvement Corp.’s $219.595 million of Series 2018A wastewater system revenue bonds junior lien and Series 2018B wastewater system revenue refunding bonds senior lien bonds.
The Series 2018A bonds are rated Aa2 by Moody’s and AA-plus by S&P while the Series 2018B bonds are rated AA2 by Moody’s and AAA by S&P.
Additionally, BAML priced the Northampton County, Pa., General Purpose Authority’s $150 million of Series 2018A fixed-rate and Series 2018B variable-rate hospital revenue bonds for St. Luke’s University Health Network.
The deal is rated A3 by Moody’s and A-minus by S&P.
Tuesday’s bond sales
California:
West Virginia:
Arizona:
Pennsylvania:
Bond Buyer 30-day visible supply at $9.95B
The Bond Buyer's 30-day visible supply calendar increased $222.2 million to $9.95 billion on Tuesday. The total is comprised of $3.85 billion of competitive sales and $6.10 billion of negotiated deals.
Secondary market
Municipal bonds were little changed on Tuesday, according to a midday read of the MBIS benchmark scale.
Benchmark muni yields rose less than a basis point in the 11- to 30-year maturities, fell less than one basis point in the one- to seven-year maturities and were unchanged in the eight- and nine-year maturities.
High-grade munis were also little changed, with yields calculated on MBIS’ AAA scale rising less than a basis point in the seven- to nine-year, 15-year, 21-year and 24- to 30 year maturities, falling less than a basis point in the one- to four-year and 10- to 13-year maturities and remaining unchanged in the five- and six-year, 14-tyear, 16- to 20-year and 22- and 23-year maturities.
According to Municipal Market Data’s AAA benchmark scale, Municipals were unchanged with yields steady in the 10-year general obligation muni and flat in the 30-year muni maturity.
Treasury bonds were little changed as stocks were trading mixed.
On Monday, the 10-year muni-to-Treasury ratio was calculated at 83.3% while the 30-year muni-to-Treasury ratio stood at 95.8%, according to MMD. The muni-to-Treasury ratio compares the yield of tax-exempt municipal bonds with the yield of taxable U.S. Treasuries with comparable maturities. If the muni/Treasury ratio is above 100%, munis are yielding more than Treasuries; if it is below 100%, munis are yielding less.
Previous session's activity
The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board reported 35,852 trades on Monday on volume of $6.27 billion.
California, Texas and New York were the states with the most trades, with the Golden State taking 16.079% of the market, the Lone Star State taking 9.846% and the Empire State taking 9.643%.
Treasury auctions $45B 4-week bills
The Treasury Department Tuesday auctioned $45 billion of four-week bills at a 1.720% high yield, a price of 99.866222.
The coupon equivalent was 1.746%. The bid-to-cover ratio was 3.10.
Tenders at the high rate were allotted 52.90%. The median rate was 1.690%. The low rate was 1.650%.
Treasury auctions $26B one-year bills
The Treasury Department Tuesday auctioned $26 billion of year bills at a 2.275% high yield, a price of 97.699722.
The coupon equivalent was 2.347%. The bid-to-cover ratio was 3.68.
Tenders at the high rate were allotted 37.67%. The median rate was 2.260%. The low rate was 2.230%.
Data appearing in this article from Municipal Bond Information Services, including the MBIS municipal bond index, is available on The Bond Buyer Data Workstation.
