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

Top-shelf municipal bonds were stronger at mid-session, according to traders, who are looking ahead to the next week's almost $10 billion new issue slate.

Ipreo estimates total bond volume for next week at $9.9 billion, up from a revised total of $4.2 billion this week, according to updated data from Thomson Reuters. The upcoming slate is composed of $4.3 billion of negotiated deals and $5.6 billion of competitive sales.

BB-101617-MUN

Secondary market
The yield on the 10-year benchmark muni general obligation fell as much as two basis points from 1.98% on Thursday, while the 30-year GO yield dropped as much as two basis points from 2.78%, according to a read of Municipal Market Data's triple-A scale.

U.S. Treasuries were stronger on Friday. The yield on the two-year Treasury dropped to 1.49% from 1.51% on Thursday, the 10-year Treasury yield fell to 2.29% from 2.32% and yield on the 30-year Treasury bond decreased to 2.83% from 2.88%.

On Thursday, the 10-year muni-to-Treasury ratio was calculated at 85.3% compared with 85.4% on Wednesday, while the 30-year muni-to-Treasury ratio stood at 97.5% versus 97.8%, according to MMD.

AP-MBIS 10-year muni dips to 2.29%
The Associated Press-MBIS 10-year municipal benchmark 5% general obligation was at 2.29% at midday, down from the final read of 2.30% on Thursday, according to Municipal Bond Information Services, a national consortium of municipal interdealer brokers.

The AP-MBIS index is a yield curve built on market data aggregated from MBIS member firms and will be updated hourly on the forthcoming Bond Buyer Data Workstation.

MSRB: Previous session's activity
The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board reported 38,133 trades on Thursday on volume of $14.12 billion.

Week's actively traded issues
Some of the most actively traded bonds by type in the week ended Oct. 13 were from Puerto Rico, California and Illinois issuers, according to Markit.

In the GO bond sector, the Puerto Rico Commonwealth 8s of 2035 were traded 28 times. In the revenue bond sector, the San Francisco Airports Commission 5s of 2047 were traded 73 times. And in the taxable bond sector, the Illinois 5.1s of 2033 were traded 17 times.

Week's actively quoted issues
Puerto Rico and California names were among the most actively quoted bonds in the week ended Oct. 13, according to Markit.

On the bid side, the Puerto Rico Highway and Transportation Authority revenue 4.75s of 2038 were quoted by 73 unique dealers. On the ask side, the California taxable 7.5s of 2034 were quoted by 70 dealers. And among two-sided quotes, the Puerto Rico Commonwealth GO 8s of 2035 were quoted by 23 unique dealers.

Week’s primary market
Bank of America Merrill Lynch priced the North Texas Tollway Authority’s $2.55 billion of system revenue and refunding bonds for institutions, consisting of Series 2017A first tier bonds and Series 2017B second tier bonds.

The Series 2017A bonds are rated A1 by Moody’s Investors Service and A by S&P Global Ratings; the Series 2017B bonds are rated A2 by Moody’s and A-minus by S&P except for the 2034-2038 maturities and half of a split 2033 maturity are insured by Assured Guaranty Municipal Corp., and rated A2 by Moody’s and AA by S&P.

Jefferies priced the Airport Commission of the City and County of San Francisco’s $875.18 million of second series revenue bonds for the San Francisco International Airport. The bonds are rated A1 by Moody’s and A-plus by S&P and Fitch Ratings.

BAML priced the Indiana Finance Authority’s $146.69 million of state revolving fund program green bonds in two series. The deal is rated triple-A by Moody’s, S&P and Fitch Ratings.

Citigroup priced the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority’s $103.15 million of Series 2017 capital gran receipts refunding bonds, Federal Transit Administration Section 5337 state of good repair formula program funds. The deal is rated A3 by Moody’s and AA-minus by S&P.

A group including Jefferies as senior manager and Academy Securities, Alamo Capital and Cabrera Capital Markets priced the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s $172.26 million of transportation revenue variable-rate bonds/LIBOR floating-rate tender notes. The remarketing is rated A1 by Moody’s, AA-minus by S&P and Fitch and AA-plus by Kroll Bond Rating Agency.

In the competitive arena, the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority sold $566.82 million of green bonds in two separate offerings.

Wells Fargo Securities won the $479.71 million of Series 2017A Proposition A first tier senior sales tax revenue green bonds with a true interest cost of 3.24%. Goldman Sachs won the $87.11 million of Series 2017B Proposition A first tier senior sales tax revenue refunding green bonds with a TIC of 1.26%. Both deals are rated Aa1 by Moody’s and AAA by S&P.

Texas A&M University Board of Regents sold $400.1 million of permanent university fund bonds in two offerings. Barclays Capital won the $309.83 million of Series 2017B taxables with a TIC of 3.69%. UBS won the $90.27 million of Series 2017A tax-exempts with a TIC of 2.87%. Both deals are rated triple-A by Moody’s, S&P and Fitch.

The state of Ohio sold $265 million of bonds in two sales. JPMorgan Securities won the $175 million of Series 2017A tax-exempt infrastructure improvement general obligation bonds with a TIC of 3.26%. Fifth Third Securities won the $90 million of Series 2017A taxable Third Frontier Research and Development taxable GOs with a TIC of 2.495%. The deals are rated Aa1 by Moody’s and AA-plus by S&P and Fitch.

The Johnson County Water District No. 1, Kan., competitively sold $146.06 million of bonds in two separate offerings. Wells Fargo Securities won the $107.42 million of Series 2017A water revenue refunding bonds with a TIC of 2.48%. Wells Fargo also won the $38.64 million of Series 2017B water revenue bonds with a TIC of 3.07%. The deals are rated triple-A by Moody’s and S&P.

In the short-term competitive sector on Wednesday, the Louisville and Jefferson County Metropolitan Sewer District, Ky., sold $226.34 million of Series 2017 sewer and drainage system subordinated bond anticipation notes. Citigroup won the notes with a bid of 5% and a premium of $8,811,416.20, an effective rate of 1.041902%. The BANs are rated MIG1 by Moody’s and SP1-plus by S&P.

Bond Buyer reports 30-day visible supply
The Bond Buyer's 30-day visible supply calendar increased $5.51 billion to $15.46 billion on Friday. The total is comprised of $6.21 billion of competitive sales and $9.24 billion of negotiated deals.

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

The weekly reporters saw $43.576 million of inflows in the week of Oct. 11, after outflows of $140.336 million in the previous week.

BB-101317

Exchange traded funds reported inflows of $104.014 million, after inflows of $72.007 million in the previous week. Ex-EFTs, muni funds saw $60.438 million of outflows, after outflows of $212.343 million in the previous week.

The four-week moving average was positive at $213.857 million, after being in the green at $263.309 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 outflows of $84.362 million in the latest week after outflows of $136.354 million in the previous week. Intermediate-term funds had inflows of $108.248 million after inflows of $117.108 million in the prior week.

National funds had inflows of $230.791 million after inflows of $58.823 million in the previous week.

High-yield muni funds reported outflows of $93.973 million in the latest week, after outflows of $13.655 million the previous week.

Data appearing in this article from Municipal Bond Information Services, including the AP-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 212-803-8372 for more information.

For reprint and licensing requests for this article, click here.
Primary bond market Secondary bond market Municipal bond funds State of California State of Illinois Commonwealth of Puerto Rico Puerto Rico Highway & Transportation Authority Indiana Finance Authority Metropolitan Transportation Authority State of Ohio
MORE FROM BOND BUYER