Taxable bonds, tax-exempt notes lead primary slate

The municipal bond primary market will be seeing several big offerings hit the screens on Wednesday — dominated by a taxable deal in the negotiated bond sector and a competitive note sale.

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

The 10-year muni benchmark yield rose to 2.294% on Wednesday from the final read of 2.278% on Tuesday, according to Municipal Bond Information Services. The MBIS 30-year benchmark muni yield gained to 2.799% from 2.780%.

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

U.S. Treasuries were weaker in early activity. The yield on the two-year Treasury gained to 1.99% on Wednesday from 1.96% on Tuesday, the 10-year Treasury yield rose to 2.59% from 2.55% and the yield on the 30-year Treasury increased to 2.94% from 2.88%.

Top-rated municipal bonds finished weaker on Tuesday. The yield on the 10-year benchmark muni general obligation rose four basis points to 2.05% from 2.01% on Monday, while the 30-year GO yield gained five basis points to 2.64% from 2.59%, according to the final read of MMD’s triple-A scale.

On Tuesday, the 10-year muni-to-Treasury ratio was calculated at 80.5% compared with 81.0% on Monday, while the 30-year muni-to-Treasury ratio stood at 91.5% versus 92.1%, according to MMD.

MSRB: Previous session's activity
The Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board reported 44,737 trades on Tuesday on volume of $10.96 billion.

Primary market
On Wednesday, Morgan Stanley is expected to price the Stanford Health Care, Calif.’s $500 million of Series 2018 corporate CUSIP taxable bonds. The deal is rated Aa3 by Moody’s, AA-minus by S&P and AA by Fitch.

In the competitive arena on Wednesday, Worcester, Mass., is selling $103.795 million of GOs in two separate sales.

The deals consist of $75.195 million of municipal purpose loan of 2018 Series A GOs and $28.6 million of taxable Series B GOs.

The deals are rated Aa3 by Moody’s Investors Service, AA-minus by S&P Global Ratings and AA by Fitch Ratings.

Since 2008, Worcester has sold about $963 million of bonds, with the most issuance occurring in 2016 when it sold $170 million. The city saw a low year in 2009 when it sold $40.4 million.

BB-011118-MUN

In the short-term competitive sector on Wednesday, Colorado is selling $375 million of Series 2017B education loan program tax and revenue anticipation notes. The TRANs are rated MIG1 by Moody’s and SP1-plus by S&P.

On Thursday, RBC Capital Markets is expected to price the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Financing Authority’s $410 million of Series 2018A taxable revenue bonds for the Plancon program. The deal is rated A1 by Moody’s, A by S&P and A-plus by Fitch.

JPMorgan Securities is set to price the Illinois Finance Authority’s $218.67 million of Series 2018 taxable revenue refunding bonds for the Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago. The deal is rated AA-minus by S&P and AA by Fitch.

Bond Buyer 30-day visible supply at $5.84B
The Bond Buyer's 30-day visible supply calendar decreased $1.14 billion to $5.84 billion on Wednesday. The total is comprised of $2.48 billion of competitive sales and $3.36 billion of negotiated deals.

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 State of Colorado Illinois Finance Authority
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