Muni market sees taxables sell as yields flatten out

Municipal bond buyers saw some taxable supply hit the screens on Thursday as the recent yield rise slowed and traders' attention shifted to next week’s holiday-shortened week.

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

The 10-year muni benchmark yield rose to 2.354% on Thursday from the final read of 2.345% on Wednesday, according to Municipal Bond Information Services. The MBIS 30-year benchmark muni yield gained to 2.853% from 2.844%.

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

Top-rated municipal bonds are mixed at mid-session. The yield on the 10-year benchmark muni general obligation was steady from 2.12% on Wednesday, while the 30-year GO yield gained as much as one basis point from 2.72%, according to a read of MMD’s triple-A scale.

U.S. Treasuries are little changed in midday activity. The yield on the two-year Treasury rose to 1.98% from 1.97% on Wednesday, the 10-year Treasury yield was unchanged from 2.56% and the yield on the 30-year Treasury increased to 2.90% from 2.89%.

On Wednesday, the 10-year muni-to-Treasury ratio was calculated at 83.2% compared with 80.5% on Tuesday, while the 30-year muni-to-Treasury ratio stood at 94.0% versus 91.5%, according to MMD.

MSRB: Previous session's activity
The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board reported 46,686 trades on Wednesday on volume of $13.14 billion.

Primary market
RBC Capital Markets received the written award on the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Financing Authority’s $412.0 million of Series 2018A taxable revenue bonds for the Plancon program.

The issue was priced at par to yield from 3.451% in 2027 to 3.781% in 2031 and 3.864% in 2038.

The deal is rated A1 by Moody’s Investors Service, A by S&P Global Ratings and A-plus by Fitch Ratings.

JPMorgan Securities received the official award on the Illinois Finance Authority’s $223.55 million of Series 2018 taxable revenue refunding bonds for the Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago.

The issue was priced at par to yield from 3.498% in 2028 to 3.748% in 2034 and 3.944% in a 2047 term maturity with an average life of 26.278 years.

The deal is rated AA-minus by S&P and AA by Fitch.

JPMorgan is also set to price the Tomball Independent School District, Texas’ $137.59 million of Series 2018 unlimited tax school building bonds.

The deal is rated triple-A by Moody’s and S&P.

Bond Buyer 30-day visible supply at $5.30B
The Bond Buyer's 30-day visible supply calendar decreased $534.6 million to $5.30 billion on Thursday. The total is comprised of $2.25 billion of competitive sales and $3.05 billion of negotiated deals.

Tax-exempt money market funds saw inflows
Tax-exempt money market funds experienced inflows of $4.34 billion, bringing total net assets to $135.40 billion in the week ended Jan. 8, according to The Money Fund Report, a service of iMoneyNet.com.

This followed an inflow of $130.8 million to $131.06 billion in the previous week.

BB-011218-MUN

The average, seven-day simple yield for the 199 weekly reporting tax-exempt funds dropped to 0.96% from 1.03% the previous week.

The total net assets of the 832 weekly reporting taxable money funds decreased $7.07 billion to $2.668 trillion in the week ended Jan. 9, after an inflow of $4.66 billion to $2.675 trillion the week before.

The average, seven-day simple yield for the taxable money funds increased to 0.93% from 0.92% from the prior week.

Overall, the combined total net assets of the 1,031 weekly reporting money funds decreased $2.73 billion to $2.803 trillion in the week ended Jan. 9, after inflows of $4.79 billion to $2.806 trillion in the prior week.

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.

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Primary bond market Secondary bond market Municipal bond funds Illinois Finance Authority
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