Municipal bonds strengthen ahead of next week’s $9.9B calendar

Top-shelf municipal bonds were stronger at midday, according to traders, who are looking ahead to next week’s chunky new issue calendar.

Ipreo estimates total bond volume for next week at $9.92 billion, up from a revised total of $5.37 billion this week, according to updated data from Thomson Reuters. Next week’s slate is composed of $7.15 billion of negotiated deals and $2.77 billion of competitive sales.

BB-092517-MUN

Secondary market
The yield on the 10-year benchmark muni general obligation fell as much as one basis point from 1.93% on Thursday, while the 30-year GO yield dropped as much as two basis points from 2.80%, according to a read of Municipal Market Data's triple-A scale.

U.S. Treasuries were mixed on Friday. The yield on the two-year Treasury was unchanged from 1.44% on Thursday, the 10-year Treasury yield declined to 2.26% from 2.27% and the yield on the 30-year Treasury bond decreased to 2.80% from 2.81%.

On Thursday, the 10-year muni-to-Treasury ratio was calculated at 84.8% compared with 84.4% on Wednesday, while the 30-year muni-to-Treasury ratio stood at 99.9% versus 99.3%, according to MMD.

MSRB: Previous session's activity
The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board reported 34,201 trades on Friday on volume of $9.16 billion.

Week's actively traded issues
Some of the most actively traded bonds by type in the week ended Sept. 22 were from New York and Virginia issuers, according to Markit.

In the GO bond sector, the New York City 3.25s of 2042 were traded 112 times. In the revenue bond sector, the Erie County, N.Y., 2s of 2018 were traded 65 times. And in the taxable bond sector, the University of Virginia 4.179s of 2017 were traded 29 times.

Week's actively quoted issues
New Jersey, New York and Illinois names were among the most actively quoted bonds in the week ended Sept. 22, according to Markit.

On the bid side, the South Jersey Port Corp. taxable 7.365s of 2040 were quoted by 93 unique dealers. On the ask side, the NYC GO 3.25s of 2042 were quoted by 213 dealers. And among two-sided quotes, the Chicago Board of Education taxable 6.138s of 2039 were quoted by 22 unique dealers.

Lipper: Muni bond funds see inflows
Investors in municipal bond funds once again put cash into the funds, according to Lipper data released late Thursday.

The weekly reporters drew $573.978 million of inflows in the week of Sept. 20, after inflows of $241.383 million in the previous week.

Exchange traded funds reported inflows of $26.746 million, after outflows of $71.425 million in the previous week. Ex-EFTs, muni funds saw $547.231 million of inflows, after inflows of $312.807 million in the previous week.

The four-week moving average was positive at $352.562 million, after being in the green at $396.692 million in the previous week. A moving average is an analytical tool used to smooth out price changes by filtering out fluctuations.

Long-term muni bond funds had inflows of $225.329 million in the latest week after inflows of $289.549 million in the previous week. Intermediate-term funds had inflows of $113.402 million after inflows of $84.525 million in the prior week.

National funds had inflows of $561.769 million after inflows of $347.544 million in the previous week.

High-yield muni funds reported inflows of $133.982 million in the latest week, after inflows of $293.763 million the previous week.

BB-092217-LIPPER

Week’s primary market
Citigroup priced the N.Y. MTA’s $662.03 million of Series 2017B climate bond certified transportation revenue refunding green bonds. The size of the offering was been increased three times from the originally anticipated $500 million

The deal is rated A1 by Moody’s Investors Service and A-minus by S&P Global Ratings and Fitch Ratings and AA-plus by Kroll Bond Rating Agency.

Barclays Capital priced the Regents of the University of California’s $860.75 million of Series 2017M tax-exempt and Series 2017N taxable limited project revenue bonds.

The deal is rated Aa3 by Moody’s, AA-minus by S&P and AA-minus by Fitch.

Goldman Sachs priced the state of Ohio’s $341.87 million of general obligation full faith and credit/highway user receipts highway capital improvements bonds.

The deal is rated Aa1 by Moody’s, AAA by S&P and AA-plus by Fitch.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch priced the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District’s $243.02 million of Series 2017 wastewater improvement refunding revenue bonds.

The deal is rated Aa1 by Moody’s and AA-plus by S&P.

Barclays Capital priced the Rector and Visitors of the University of Virginia’s $300 million of Series 2017C taxable general revenue pledge bonds issued under the multi-year capital project financing program.

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

Ziegler priced the Mayor and Council of Rockville Economic Development Inc., Md.’s $224.28 million of Series 2017 revenue and revenue refunding bonds for the Ingleside at King Farm project.

The deal is rated BB by Fitch, which assigns the credit a stable outlook.

Citi priced Anchorage, Alaska’s $169.44 million of tax-exempt Series 2017B water revenue refunding bonds and Series 2017B wastewater revenue refunding bonds and taxable Series 2017C wastewater revenue refunding bonds.

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

Morgan Stanley priced Atlantic City, N.J.’s $68.33 million of Series 2017B tax appeal refunding bonds issued as qualified under the “provisions of the Municipal Qualified Bond Act, P.L. 1976, C.28, as amended.”

The deal was backed by Assured Guaranty Municipal and rated A2 by Moody’s and AA by S&P and carries MQBA underlying ratings of Baa1 from Moody’s and BBB-plus from S&P.

In the competitive arena, Irving, Texas, sold $107.65 million of Series 2017 combination tax and hotel occupancy tax revenue refunding bonds.

BAML won the bonds with a true interest cost of 3.00%. The issue was priced to yield from 0.86% with a 5.50% coupon in 2018 to 3.32% with a 3.25% coupon in 2039.

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

The Brookland Cayce School District No. 2 of Lexington County, S.C.., sold $100 million of Series 2017C general obligation bonds.

Citi won the bonds with a TIC of 3.10%. The deal is rated Aa1 by Moody’s and AA-minus by S&P.

Madison, Wis., sold three separate competitive offerings totaling $103.72 million.

Robert W. Baird won the $76.9 million of general obligation promissory notes with a TIC of 1.69%. Piper Jaffray won the other two sales, taking the $13.87 million of GO corporate purpose bonds with a TIC of 2.59% and the $12.95 million of taxable GO promissory notes with a TIC of 2.35%. All three deals are rated Aaa by Moody’s.

The Cherry Creek School District No. 5, Colo., sold $178.34 million of unlimited tax general obligation bonds.

Hutchinson Shockey won the $100 million of Series 2017C GOs with a true interest cost of 3.21%. Raymond James & Associates won the $78.34 million of Series 2017B GOs with a TIC of 1.897%. The deals are rated Aa1 by Moody’s and AA-plus by S&P.

In the short-term sector, BAML won the Broward County School District, Fla.’s $125 million of Series 2017 tax anticipation notes with a net interest cost of 0.9354%. The TANs are rated MIG1 by Moody’s.

Bond Buyer reports 30-day visible supply
The Bond Buyer's 30-day visible supply calendar increased $3.97 billion to $13.12 billion on Friday. The total is comprised of $5.55 billion of competitive sales and $7.57 billion of negotiated deals.

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