Municipal bonds weaken ahead of next week’s $10B new issue calendar

Municipal bonds were weaker at mid-session, according to traders, who are looking ahead to the next week's $10 billion new issue slate, which will be dominated by Illinois's $4.5 billion general obligation bond offering.

Ipreo estimates total bond volume for next week at $10 billion, down from a revised total of $10.24 billion this week, according to data from Thomson Reuters. The upcoming slate is composed of $8.3 billion of negotiated deals and $1.7 billion of competitive sales.

BB-102317-MUN

Secondary market
The yield on the 10-year benchmark muni general obligation rose one to three basis points from 1.92% on Thursday, while the 30-year GO yield gained three to five basis points from 2.69%, according to a read of Municipal Market Data's triple-A scale.

U.S. Treasuries were also weaker on Friday. The yield on the two-year Treasury gained to 1.57% from 1.56%, the 10-year Treasury yield rose to 2.38% from 2.32% and yield on the 30-year Treasury bond increased to 2.90% from 2.83%.

On Thursday, the 10-year muni-to-Treasury ratio was calculated at 82.7% compared with 82.5% on Wednesday, while the 30-year muni-to-Treasury ratio stood at 95.1% versus 94.4%, according to MMD.

AP-MBIS 10-year muni at 2.260%, 30-year at 2.826%
The Associated Press-MBIS 10-year municipal benchmark 5% general obligation was at 2.260% at midday, compared to the final read of 2.254% on Thursday, according to Municipal Bond Information Services, a national consortium of municipal interdealer brokers. The AP-MBIS 30-year muni was at 2.826% versus 2.813% on Thursday.

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

MSRB: Previous session's activity
The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board reported 38,195 trades on Thursday on volume of $12.07 billion.

Week's actively traded issues
Some of the most actively traded bonds by type in the week ended Oct. 20 were from California and New York issuers, according to Markit.

In the GO bond sector, the San Diego Unified School District 4s of 2047 were traded 97 times. In the revenue bond sector, the NYC TFA 4s of 2042 were traded 91 times. And in the taxable bond sector, the California 2.5s of 2022 were traded 19 times.

Week's actively quoted issues
Puerto Rico and California names were among the most actively quoted bonds in the week ended Oct. 20, according to Markit.

On the bid side, the Puerto Rico Highway and Transportation Authority revenue 4.75s of 2038 were quoted by 71 unique dealers. On the ask side, the California taxable 7.5s of 2034 were quoted by 100 dealers. And among two-sided quotes, the Puerto Rico Commonwealth GO 8s of 2035 were quoted by 27 unique dealers.

Week’s primary market
California came to market with $1.59 billion of various purpose general obligation bonds in three competitive sales. The $557.22 million of tax-exempt Bid Group B bonds were won by Wells Fargo Securities with a true interest cost of 1.79%. The $522.53 million of tax-exempt Bid Group C bonds were won by Morgan Stanley with a TIC of 3.11%. The $508.705 million of Bid Group A taxable GO bonds were won by JPMorgan Securities with a TIC of 2.16%. The deals are rated Aa3 by Moody’s Investors Service, and AA-minus by S&P Global Ratings and Fitch Ratings.

Illinois competitively sold $1.5 billion of GOs in three separate issues. The $500 million Series of November 2017A GOs, were won by Bank of America Merrill Lynch with a TIC of 1.64%. The $500 million of Series of November 2017B GOs were won by JPMorgan, with a TIC of 1.75%. The $500 million of Series of November 2017C GOs were won by BAML with a TIC of 3.95%. The deals are rated Baa3 by Moody’s, BBB-minus by S&P and BBB by Fitch.

Massachusetts competitively sold $815.25 million of general obligation bonds in three offerings on Wednesday. BAML won the $300 million of Series F consolidated loan of 2017 GOs with a TIC of 3.7813%. BAML also won the $300 million of Series E consolidated loan of 2017 GOs with a TIC of 2.8724%. Jefferies won the $215.25 million of Series 2017E GO refunding bonds with a TIC of 1.8023%. The deals are rated Aa2 by Moody’s, AA by S&P and AA-plus by Fitch.

The Virginia Public School Authority sold $115.82 million of financing 1997 resolution Series 2017C school financing bonds. BAML won the bonds with a TIC of 2.99%. The deal is rated Aa1 by Moody’s and AA-plus by S&P and Fitch.

The Douglas County (Omaha) Public School District No 001, Neb., competitively sold $114.61 million of Series 2017 GOs. Citigroup won the bonds with a TIC of 3.0102%. The deal is rated Aa2 by Moody’s and AA-plus by S&P.

The New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority sold $1 billion of notes in two competitive deals on Thursday.

Four groups won the $500 million of Subseries 2017C-1 transportation revenue bond anticipation notes: JPMorgan Securities won $250 million with a bid of 4% and a $9,565,000 premium, an effective rate of 1.04233%; Goldman Sachs won $100 million with a bid of 4% and a $3,826,000 premium, an effective rate of 1.04233%; Morgan Stanley won $75 million with a bid of 4% and a $2,865,000 premium, an effective rate of 1.04685%; and Citigroup won $75 million, taking $50 million with a bid of 4% and a premium of $1,915,000, an effective rate of 1.03932% and $25 million with a bid of 4% and a premium of $963,750, an effective rate of 1.02048%.

Seven groups won the $500 million of Subseries 2017C-2 transportation revenue BANs: JPMorgan Securities won $250 million with a bid of 4% and a $11,267,500 premium, an effective rate of 1.07029%; Morgan Stanley won $75 million with a bid of 4% and a $3,381,750 premium, an effective rate of 1.06902%; Citigroup won $50 million with a bid of 4% and a $2,257,000 premium, an effective rate of 1.06587%; Bank of America Merrill Lynch won $50 million with a bid of 4% and a $2,252,000 premium, an effective rate of 1.07218%; UBS Financial Services won $25 million with a bid of 4% and a $1,127,000 premium, an effective rate of 1.06965%; Goldman Sachs won $25 million with a bid of 4% and a $1,126,750 premium, an effective rate of 1.07029; and RBC Capital Markets won $25 million with a bid of 4% and a $1,126,500 premium, an effective rate of 1.07092%.

The deals were rated MIG1 by Moody’s, SP1-plus by S&P and F1-plus by Fitch.

The San Francisco County Transportation Authority sold $248.54 million of Series 2017 limited tax senior sales tax revenue bonds. Bank of America Merrill Lynch won the bonds with a true interest cost of 2.3963%. The deal is rated AA-plus by S&P and AAA by Fitch .

In the negotiated sector, Goldman Sachs priced the New York City Transitional Finance Authority’s $850 million of Fiscal 2018 Series B Subseries B-1 future tax secured subordinate bonds for institutions after holding a two-day retail order period. The TFA also competitively sold $140 million of taxable Fiscal 2018 Series B Subseries B-2 future tax secured subordinate bonds. JPMorgan won the bonds with a true interest cost of 2.909%. The deals are rated Aa1 by Moody’s and AAA by S&P and Fitch.

Goldman priced the Harris County Metropolitan Transit Authority, Texas’ $103.51 million of Series 2017B sales and use tax refunding contractual obligations. The deal is rated Aa2 by Moody’s and AA-plus by S&P.

Jefferies priced San Antonio, Texas’ $100 million of Series 2014B water system variable-rate junior lien revenue and refunding bonds as a remarketing. The deal is rated Aa2 by Moody’s and AA by S&P and Fitch.

Citi priced the Berks County Industrial Development Authority, Pa.’s $590.5 million of Series 2017 health system revenue bonds for the Tower Health project. The deal is rated A3 by Moody’s and A by S&P and Fitch.

Next week, Barclays Capital will price Illinois’ $4.5 billion of Series of November 2017D general obligation bonds. The deal is rated Baa3 by Moody’s, BBB-minus by S&P and BBB by Fitch.

Bond Buyer reports 30-day visible supply
The Bond Buyer's 30-day visible supply calendar increased $2.68 billion to $13.27 billion on Friday. The total is comprised of $4.15 billion of competitive sales and $9.12 billion of negotiated deals.

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

The weekly reporters saw $536.158 million of inflows in the week of Oct. 18, after inflows of $43.576 million in the previous week.

Exchange traded funds reported inflows of $184.768 million, after inflows of $104.014 million in the previous week. Ex-EFTs, muni funds saw $351.390 million of inflows, after outflows of $60.438 million in the previous week.

BB-102017-LIPPER

The four-week moving average was positive at $204.402 million, after being in the green at $213.857 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 $424.977 million in the latest week after outflows of $84.362 million in the previous week. Intermediate-term funds had inflows of $164.276 million after inflows of $108.248 million in the prior week.

National funds had inflows of $547.592 million after inflows of $230.791 million in the previous week.

High-yield muni funds reported inflows of $222.947 million in the latest week, after outflows of $93.973 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 212-803-8474 for more information.

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