Municipal bonds turn mixed ahead of next week’s $4.7B calendar

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

Ipreo estimates total bond volume for next week at $4.72 billion, down from a revised total of $5.61 billion this week, according to data from Thomson Reuters. Next week’s slate is composed of $3.71 billion of negotiated deals and $1.01 billion of competitive sales.

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Secondary market
The yield on the 10-year benchmark muni general obligation rose as much as one basis point from 1.88% on Thursday, while the 30-year GO yield was unchanged from 2.76%, 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 rose to 1.38% from 1.36% on Thursday, the 10-year Treasury yield was unchanged from 2.20% and the yield on the 30-year Treasury bond decreased to 2.77% from 2.78%.

On Thursday, the 10-year muni-to-Treasury ratio was calculated at 85.6%, compared with 85.3% on Wednesday, while the 30-year muni-to-Treasury ratio stood at 99.3% versus 98.5%, according to MMD.

MSRB: Previous session's activity
The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board reported 35,887 trades on Friday on volume of $11.51 billion.

Week's actively traded issues
Some of the most actively traded bonds by type in the week ended Sept. 15 were from California, New Jersey and Texas issuers, according to Markit.

In the GO bond sector, the Marin County Healthcare District, Calif., 4s of 2043 were traded 43 times. In the revenue bond sector, the New Jersey Economic Development Authority 3.375s of 2030 were traded 57 times. And in the taxable bond sector, the University of Texas 3.354s of 2047 were traded 33 times.

Week's actively quoted issues
New Jersey and California names were among the most actively quoted bonds in the week ended Sept. 15, according to Markit.

On the bid side, the South Jersey Port Corp. taxable 7.365s of 2040 were quoted by 129 unique dealers. On the ask side, the California GO 4s of 2047 were quoted by 188 dealers. And among two-sided quotes, the California taxable 7.3s of 2039 were quoted by 21 unique dealers.

Week’s primary market
This week's calendar was headlined by Siebert Cisneros Shank's pricing of New York City’s $857.59 million of Fiscal 2018 Subseries B-1 and Series 1 general obligation bonds.

In the competitive arena, the city sold $250 million of taxable GOs in two separate offerings. Bank of America Merrill Lynch won the $190.62 million of Fiscal 2018 Subseries B-2 taxables with a true interest cost of 2.62%. Jefferies won the $59.38 million of Fiscal 2018 Subseries B-3 taxables with a TIC of 3.05%.

The deals are rated Aa2 by Moody’s Investors Service and AA by S&P Global Ratings and Fitch Ratings.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch priced the Board of Regents of the University of Texas System’s $265.5 million of Series 2017B revenue financing system bonds. The deal is rated triple-A by Moody’s, S&P and Fitch.

Morgan Stanley priced the Board of Governors of the Colorado State University System’s $117.05 million of Series 2017 A&B system enterprise revenue refunding bonds. The Series 2017A bonds are subject to the Colorado State Intercept Program and are rated Aa2 by Moody’s and AA-minus by S&P while the Series 2017B bonds are not subject to the state intercept and are rated Aa3 by Moody’s and A-plus by S&P.

JPMorgan Securities priced the Board of Governors of the University of North Carolina’s $110.19 million of Series 2017 taxable general revenue refunding bonds for the University at Chapel Hill. The deal is rated triple-A by Moody’s, S&P and Fitch.

RBC Capital Markets priced the Regents of the University of Minnesota’s $410.05 million of tax-exempt Series 2017A general obligation bonds and Series 2017B GO refunding bonds. The deal is rated Aa1 by Moody’s and AA by S&P.

Morgan Stanley priced the West Valley-Mission Community College District, Calif.’s $100 million of Series 2017C election 0f 2012 general obligation bonds. The deal is rated triple-A by Moody’s and S&P.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch priced the Reedy Creek Improvement District, Fla.’s $199.42 million of Series 2017A ad valorem tax bonds. The deal is rated Aa3 by Moody’s and AA-minus by S&P and Fitch.

Citi priced the state of Ohio’s $114.33 million of Series 2017A turnpike revenue refunding bonds. The deal is rated Aa3 by Moody’s, AA-minus by S&P and AA by Fitch.

Barclays Capital priced Colorado Springs, Colo.’s $239.82 million of Series 2017A-1, 2017A-2 and 2017A-3 utilities system refunding revenue bonds. The deal is rated Aa2 by Moody’s and AA by S&P and Fitch.

Raymond James & Associates priced Memphis, Tenn.’s $155 million of Series 2017 electric, gas and water systems revenue bonds. The electric system bonds are rated Aa2 by Moody’s and AA by S&P, the gas system bonds are rated Aa1 by Moody’s and AA-minus by S&P and the water system bonds are rated Aa1 by Moody’s and AAA by S&P.

Citi priced Arlington, Texas’ $110.895 million of senior lien special tax revenue refunding bonds. The 2020 through 2024 maturities are uninsured and carry ratings of A1 by Moody’s, A-plus by S&P and AA-plus by Fitch, while the 2025 through 2034 maturities are insured by Assured Guaranty Municipal and rated AA by S&P.

In the competitive arena, the Maryland Department of Transportation sold $425 million of Series 2017 second issue consolidated transportation bonds. Citigroup won the bonds with a true interest cost of 2.28%. The deal is rated Aa1 by Moody’s, AAA by S&P and AA-plus by Fitch.

Seattle, Wash., competitively sold $385.37 million of Series 2017C municipal light and power improvement and refunding revenue bonds. Morgan Stanley won the bonds with a true interest cost of 3.17%. The deal is rated Aa2 by Moody’s and AA by S&P.

The state of Louisiana sold $300.09 million of Series 2017B general obligation bonds, which were won by Bank of America Merrill Lynch with a TIC of 2.95%. The deal is rated Aa3 by Moody’s and AA-minus by S&P and Fitch.

Prince George's County, Md., sold $104 million of Series 2017 certificates of participation for the Regional Medical Center. Robert W. Baird won the bonds with a TIC of 3.21%. The COPs are rated Aa1 by Moody’s and AA-plus by S&P.

And the state of Michigan competitively sold $119.58 million of GOs in two separate sales. Goldman Sachs won the $79 million of Series 2017A tax-exempt GO environmental program and refunding bonds with a TIC of 1.70% while Fifth Third Securities won the $40.58 million of Series 2017B taxable GO environmental program bonds with a TIC of 2.11%. The deals are rated Aa1 by Moody’s, AA-minus by S&P and AA by Fitch.

Bond Buyer reports 30-day visible supply
The Bond Buyer's 30-day visible supply calendar increased $1.34 billion to $9.66 billion on Friday. The total is comprised of $4.02 billion of competitive sales and $5.65 billion of negotiated deals.

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 $241.383 million of inflows in the week of Sept. 13, after inflows of $250.368 million in the previous week.

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Exchange traded funds reported outflows of $71.425 million, after inflows of $2.169 million in the previous week. Ex-EFTs, muni funds saw $312.807 million of inflows, after inflows of $248.199 million in the previous week.

The four-week moving average was positive at $396.692 million, after being in the green at $483.038 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 $289.549 million in the latest week after inflows of $105.638 million in the previous week. Intermediate-term funds had inflows of $84.525 million after inflows of $74.141 million in the prior week.

National funds had inflows of $347.544 million after inflows of $290.814 million in the previous week.

High-yield muni funds reported inflows of $293.763 million in the latest week, after inflows of $165.070 million the previous week.

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